2 NAVY NEWS, NOVEMBER 2009
HMS Dasher
HMS Pursuer
Vikings/845 NAS/846 NAS/
HMS Quorn
854 NAS/FDG/Fleet FS(Air)
HMS Sabre/Scimitar
CNaTT
HMS Monmouth
HMS Cumberland
HMS Iron Duke HMS Cornwall
RFA Fort George
HMS Enterprise
HMS Kent
HMS Atherstone
HMS Chiddingfold
HMS Pembroke
HMS Grimsby
HMS Penzance
RFA Wave Knight
HMS Bangor
RFA Lyme Bay
RFA Cardigan Bay
Joint W
arrior
FASLANE
HMS Gloucester
ROSYTH
HMS Gannet
HMS Ocean
HMS Explorer
800/801 NAS HMS Clyde
HMS Somerset
RFA Gold Rover
YEOVIL
TON
Plus one ballistic missile submarine on patrol somewhere beneath the Seven Seas
DEVONPORT
PORTSMOUTH
CULDROSE
HMS York
HMS Daring
Fleet Fleet FocusFocus
Taste of Kent
for politicians
THIS month we’ve got a massive bust on page 3. FOUR politicians joined HMS
No, we’re not going all The Sun on you. Kent in the Gulf so they could
The bust belongs to the men and women of Her Majesty’s better understand the daily
Ship Iron Duke who scored the biggest victory in the history of workings of a British warship on
RN counter-narcotics patrols off the South American coast (see deployment.
opposite). The quartet – Baroness
Elsewhere, it’s been a particularly busy month in home waters: Fookes of Plymouth, Lord
fl agship HMS Illustrious, protected by frigates Northumberland Young of Norwood Green,
and Portland, led the RN involvement in the latest Joint Warrior Gisela Stuart (MP for
exercise in the Hebrides, assisted by mine countermeasures Birmingham Edgbaston)
vessels Shoreham, Penzance and Bangor, while HMS Trafalgar and David Hamilton (MP for
stalked beneath the waves (see pages 25-27).
HMS Argyll stopped off Bute to pay a farewell to islanders
before the frigate entered refit at Rosyth (see page 15).
On the east coast, HMS Ocean dropped in on her affiliated
The fi rst and the last
Midlothian) – sailed with the
frigate from Bahrain as part of
the Armed Forces Parliamentary
Scheme.
city of Sunderland during exercises with Army Air Corps Apache Kent is in the latter stages
gunships – paying their first visit to the carrier in five years (see
THE fi rst is Her Majesty’s Ship Daring (on the left), OST started gently (ish) with checks and tests
of her deployment to the
page 8).
lead ship of the new Type 45s. to make sure a ship’s company are ready for the
Northern Arabian Gulf, helping
Farther south, HMS Somerset negotiated the Thames to
The last is Her Majesty’s Ship York, the fi nal of 12 Flag Offi cer Sea Training experience, then became
to safeguard Iraq’s oil terminals
take part in the DSEI defence exhibition in the capital, before
Type 42 destroyers to hoist the White Ensign. increasingly challenging: machinery breakdowns,
and bring general stability to
her sailors called in on her namesake county to say ‘hello’ to old
The pair met off Plymouth as the Type 45 returned replenishment at sea, fi res, air attacks, submarine
the region’s waters.
friends (see page 8).
home from trials in the Channel, while York was right hunts and the like.
The politicians were treated
HMS Daring has been forging links with new friends in
in the middle of a Thursday War with FOST. At the half-way stage the sailors moved ashore for
to the full gamut of Kent’s
Birmingham and Guernsey (see page 15) as well as helping HMS
York might be a child of the Eighties (she was laid a day at Bull Point to practise disaster relief before
activities: from observing the
York through the rigmarole of FOST (see right).
down just 18 days into that decade) rather than a returning to the ship for what older Navy News readers
ship’s company at action
Ark Royal has completed her first spell of trials following her
child of the Noughties, but there’s at least a couple will remember as Operation Awkward: dealing with
stations and fending off a
overhaul in Portsmouth (see page 4).
of advantages she enjoys over the next-generation intruders.
(mock) attack by a speedboat
University boat HMS Explorer helped yachtsmen begin their
warship. York came alongside to host peace talks between
to fl ood and fi re exercises (the
round-the-world race in Hull (see page 10).
For a start, she can outrun her. The ‘fastest 42 the two warring nations… only to come under attack
latter accompanied by plenty of
Fleet Protection Group Royal Marines hosted their US
around’ (York’s unoffi cial tag line) can make 35kts at from armed protestors on the Devonport jetty.
training smoke).
Marine Corps counterparts FAST for some anti-piracy/boarding
a push; Daring’s top speed is about 30kts. And if that wasn’t enough there was also the
After that, they were given
operations training in Scotland (see page 7).
And she’s got a working missile system too in Sea ‘Nottingham scenario’ to contend with (not at the
tours of the ship by each
The sacrifices made by their fellow green berets since 2000
Dart (the Type 45’s Sea Viper won’t be tested for real same time as the protestors mercifully). As the name
department to give them an
have been recognised with a Memorial Wall dedicated at CTCRM
until next year). implies, it involves lots of fl ooding caused by running
understanding of how complex
Lympstone, while aviators remembered the pioneers of naval
The White Rose warship was part-way through the aground… as the namesake Type 42 did off Australia
a Type 23 is.
flight at RNAS Yeovilton and the ship’s companies of Penzance
trials and tribulations of Operational Sea Training seven years ago.
The tours were punctuated
and Bangor paid their respects to the dead of HMS Royal Oak,
(Daring has to wait until next year for that pleasure) The last act of OST was a fi nal inspection for
by discussions with the ship’s
70 years after the battleship’s loss (see page 13).
as she gears up for a South Atlantic deployment. York right about the time this month’s paper hit the
company from the most junior
HMS Echo has completed an 18-month survey mission east
For the nine-week duration of OST, York’s fl ying presses.
able seamen, through senior
of Suez and returned to Devonport (see page 5), while heading in
the fl ag for Brownia, safeguarding the fi ctitious After that she returns home to Portsmouth to
rates up to CO Cdr Simon
the opposite direction are HM Ships Monmouth and Lancaster
country from the dastardly Ginger (unlike Joint prepare for her deployment to the Falklands, relieving
Hopper.
(see page 4). The former takes over from HMS Kent in the Gulf
Warrior in Scotland where Caledonia and Dragonia her sister HMS Gloucester (see below).
Jack’s not known for being
(see right); the latter is taking up the fi ght against pirates...
have supplanted the traditional foes – see page 25). ■ Civic ceremonies for Daring, page 15
backward in coming forward –
...a task currently conducted by sisters Cumberland and and Kent’s ship’s company did
Cornwall. The Fighting 99 gives us an insight into her most
recent operations (see pages 20-21).
HMS Quorn continues to enjoy her rare foray across the
G’s getting warmer in Chile
raise a number of issues with
the visitors: the administration
software JPA, uniforms in
Atlantic, working with the US Navy off the Eastern Seaboard (see hot-weather climates, and the
page 4). WITH the austral spring now upon us, HMS she passed through the appropriately-named Canal public’s appreciation of the
In the land of the deeps, HMS Triumph conducted a basin Gloucester has bidden farewell to the South Atlantic... Icy, littered with small icebergs which broke off the RN’s role around the world.
dive in Devonport (see page 9) as she begins to emerge from a and bidden hello to the South Pacifi c. glaciers towering above the waters on both sides. After two nights aboard Kent,
mammoth refit, while HMS Astute has powered up her nuclear Winter abates reluctantly in these parts, however: The sagacity of the decision not to round Cape the politicians were transferred
reactor for the first time (see page 24). the weather around Cape Horn was far too treacherous Horn was demonstrated as the Type 42 emerged from by boat to RFA Lyme Bay which
In foreign skies, the men and women of the Commando for the Fighting G to attempt that passage, so she the canals into a Pacifi c storm which whipped the sea is serving as the mother ship for
Helicopter Force and 854 NAS continue to support operations plumped for the Patagonian Canals and Magellan into a frenzy. four RN minehunters in the Gulf.
in Afghanistan. Strait – three days of negotiating 800 miles of narrow, So the destroyer’s arrival in the great Chilean port “I don’t think the members
The work of the Baggers has been greatly aided by their Sea but stunning, waterways. of Valparaiso was all the more welcome. of both Houses of Parliament
King brethren in 771 NAS. We highlight the expanded role of the “It was really breathtaking, the scenery was like There the sailors not only made the most of could have chosen a better
SAR squadron (see page 18). nothing any of us had seen before, spectacular high Chilean hospitality, enjoying diving, skiing, sky diving platform from which to gain
CHF and 854 have now been joined in Helmand by the bomb mountains with glaciers; completely deserted,” said and various sporting fi xtures, but they also helped out such valuable experience,” said
disposal experts of the Fleet Diving Group (see page 6). AB(Sea) Max Grosse. at Escuela Gran Bretaña, a school for children with Cdr Hopper.
And finally, happy 30th birthday to the Jetstream, stalwart “I was at the wheel driving as we passed through learning diffi culties. “My ship’s company enjoyed
of observer training with 750 NAS. As the venerable aircraft the Paso Tortuoso, which is barely wider than the The building was in a poor material state, so 15 frank and honest discussion
celebrated its milestone, its successor was unveiled at Culdrose ship, not something that I will forget.” sailors arrived armed with huge buckets of paint to with our visitors on a multitude
(see page 10). On the second morning, Gloucester closed up as leave the main play area a nice shade of apricot. of subjects.”
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