6 NAVY NEWS, OCTOBER 2009
Albion is (re)fi t for purpose once more
THIS is the impressive view from the bridge of and 25,000 litres of environmentally-friendly y task of rta eactivating Albion in earnest begins has hosted a families day, invited affi liates from
Her Majesty’s Ship Albion (apologies, we can’t do paint applied to the hull (it also makes Albion n – starting with some work of– f Portland. Hastings on board and staged an It’s a Knockout-
anything about the grotty weather) as she leaves scythe through the waves more effi ciently). ). The ship’s dedicated commando landing style competition.
Plymouth for trials. In all, the nine-month revamp devoured craft and boat unit, 6 Assault Squadron Once trials and OST are complete, Albion’s due
The assault ship has recently completed a £30m nearly half a million ‘man hours’. Royal Marines, rejoined this month and to take over fl ag duties from Bulwark in January,
refi t in her home port and is now working up towards To shake off the cobwebs of all that exercises off Scotland plus a spell of then sail for Norway for winter war games with the
assuming the role of Britain’s amphibious fl agship, time in Devonport, the ship underwent Operational Sea Training with the team Royal Marines in the Arctic.
taking over from her sister HMS Bulwark. three weeks of sea trials before the from FOST are imminent. Later in the year she’s earmarked to deploy for
Albion’s overhaul saw more than 12 miles of summer break to test handling and radar In between all the tests and trials, there the USA on exercises.
cabling installed, one mile of welding completed and defence systems, but now the real has been time for a little relief: the ship Picture: LA(Phot) Luron Wright, HMS Albion
Tall act follows Carriers valve
HMS Mersey for money
FISHERY patrol ship HMS
THERE may – or may not –
Mersey was given the honour of
be 4,000 holes in Blackburn,
leading the fi nest sailing vessels in
Lancashire. There certainly are
the world out to sea.
12,000 valves in Peterhead,
The River-class vessel served as
Aberdeenshire – the latest multi-
guardship for the famous ‘Parade
million-pound order for the next-
of Sail’ which marked the
generation carriers.
departure of the Tall Ships from
Whitehall has placed £52m
Belfast – the culmination of their
of contracts with fi rms around
Atlantic Challenge 2009.
the UK for various machinery,
In excess of 500,000 people
equipment and fi ttings for HM
visited Belfast during the four-
Ships Queen Elizabeth and Prince
day maritime spectacle where
of Wales.
aside from Mersey and the Tall
The valves – yours for £16m –
Ships, there was also amphibious
from Score Marine were ordered
support ship RFA Mounts Bay
alongside waste management
on show (the duo also appeared
systems (£15m) from Bristol fi rm
at Plymouth Navy Days – see page
Babcock Strachan and Henshaw,
18). Both military vessels were
pipes (£2m) from Pipex in
open to the public in Pollock
Plymouth, and lighting/light
Dock.
panels (£3m) from McGeoch
“We were overwhelmed at the
Technology in Birmingham.
public response to the Tall Ships
As the contracts were signed,
event and to the welcome we
the pieces of the huge, complex
received from the good people of
carrier jigsaw are slowly beginning
Belfast,” said Mersey’s CO
to fi t into place. The fi rst
Lt Cdr Carl Wiseman.
components of Queen Elizabeth
“The number of people who
have been delivered to the Forth,
came up our gangway to have
where both carriers will be
a look around exceeded our
assembled before entering service
expectations.
in the middle of the next decade.
“And of course, what an
Shipwrights at Appledore in
honour to take pride of place at
North Devon have built around
the head of the fl eet as the Tall
a dozen blocks which will make
Ships sailed down the Belfast
up the sponsons for the carrier’s
Lough.”
fl ight deck – the fi rst of 20 such
During the departure parade,
● A machine-gunner stands guard on HMS York during boarding exercises in the Bay of Biscay Picture: PO ‘Dutchy’ Holland, HMS York
shipments from the yard to
Mersey played host to several
Rosyth over the next three years.
local VIPs, including the Lord
York’s lucky FRUKUS
Once on the Forth, the team
Mayor of Belfast Cllr Naomi
at Babcock link these 20 to
Long and Northern Ireland’s
40-tonne sections into 300-tonne
energy minister Arlene Foster.
fi nished sponson blocks, then
outfi tting can begin with cabling,
Daring deal
ventilation, kit and the like.
PIRATES. There’s no getting away from them. Not even in York. The same could not be said for the waters of the great Belgian
Both ships will be comprised of
That’s HMS York, mind you (just in case you feared Long port of Antwerp, visited by the Type 42 for a weekend’s
around 1,500 such sections which
UP TO 120 jobs – mainly in John Silver and his swashbuckling chums had sailed up the break. will eventually be assembled in
Portsmouth – will be sustained Ouse). It was fi ne when York arrived in the Scheldt… but when it Rosyth’s No.1 Dock.
until 2017 thanks to a £309m The newly-refurbished destroyer was Britain’s ‘player’ came to depart a few days later, the team on the bridge (or That dock has undergone 18
contract to look after the Type 45 in an international exercise designed to test navies’ anywhere else on the ship’s upper deck) couldn’t see the months of work to accommodate
destroyer fl eet. response to a pirate attack. opposite bank of the river – which is around 800 yards the new carriers. Although long
All six ships will receive FRUKUS (France, Russia, UK, US) has been running wide at this point. enough, No.1 was built with ships
their ‘in-service support’ – ie for the past six years improving co-operation between Thankfully, the weather cleared up downstream, with ‘V-shaped’ hulls in mind.
maintenance – from BVT Surface the four nations’ fl eets. permitting York to ‘put her foot down’ and make Engineers had to cut back the
Fleet, the firm which built the The constituent nations take it in turns to host the Portsmouth in just nine hours – following her refi t, she’s huge granite steps which form the
vessels. exercise; last year it was the Russians, although the event the fastest 42 in the Royal Navy with a top speed in excess sides of the dock.
As of yet, only HMS Daring was just F and R with no British or American involvement. of 35kts. The result is now a dock which
has arrived in Portsmouth; she’ll This year, however, there was a full house: aside from York After a spell of maintenance and upkeep in her home is 30ft wider at the bottom than it
soon be joined by Type 45 No.2, there was the Russian destroyer Severomorsk, the veteran French port, York’s now in the middle of eight weeks of Operational Sea was before.
Dauntless, while the fifth ship of frigate Tourville and the frigate USS Klakring. Training which should fi nish at the end of the month. More work is still needed at
the six-strong class is launched The week-long exercise began in Brest then headed out into the Following that she’ll prepare for her fi rst post-refi t deployment, Rosyth, including widening the
on Trafalgar Day at Govan. Bay of Biscay – where the weather was clement for the duration heading to the Falklands to relieve HMS Gloucester shortly before entrance to the basin and the
The maintenance package luckily. the end of the year. installation of a crane capable of
comes into effect in January. lifting 1,000-tonne sections.
01273 467277
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SWORD MAKERS TO THE ROYAL MARINES
006_NN_Oct.indd 1 21/9/09 11:13:06
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