NAVY NEWS, NOVEMBER 2009 25
Back in the saddle
BRITAIN. Canada. Brazil. Turkey.
The ‘golf clubs’ for this Joint Warrior 092 are
The United States. Germany. France.
plucked out of history books old and new: ethnic
Norway. Australia. Denmark. Sweden.
groups separated from their mother country,
oppressed by the other peoples of the land they
New Zealand. India.
A Naval Strike Wing pilot climbs out of the cockpit of his Harrier GR9
live in while their kinfolk sabre rattle and demand
You might be thinking: line-up for next year’s
after a sortie over the Hebrides during the largest military exercise
restitution (think the ‘Polish Corridor’ in the late
World Cup fi nals.
in the UK this year. Eighteen warships from around the globe, led by
30s or the former Yugoslavia two decades ago).
And you’d be wrong. Britain’s fl agship HMS Illustrious, converged on north-west Scotland
And that’s why the Dragonian fl eet, led by DNS
But if you guessed: participants in a massive
for Joint Warrior. RICHARD HARGREAVES reports. (Dragonian Naval Ship) Illustrious (she even has
war game off the Scottish coast, well, you’d be
the Dragonian fl ag, although she’s not fl ying it) is
spot on.
Did I write Scotland? Sorry, I meant Caledonia, non-nautical aspects of the exercise – now Joint craft training rather than fun).
steaming around threateningly off the Caledonian
with the forces of Dragonia massing offshore, Warrior (because ‘Neptune’ was apparently a bit It falls to fl agship HMS Illustrious, safeguarded
coast.
poised to strike. too nautical for some). by frigates Northumberland and Portland, to lead
Aboard Lusty, for the third time this year, are
Yes the days of Brownia and Mustardia, those No longer is the exercise ‘just’ confined to Cape the RN involvement, while HM Ships Shoreham,
the Harrier GR9s of the Naval Strike Wing. With
fi ctitious nations forever at loggerheads, are over Wrath and the waters of north-west Scotland. Penzance and Bangor search for mines, and HMS
commitments in Afghanistan now over, we’re
(replaced by Caledonia and Dragonia, although These days, it casts its net over Wales, the Moray Trafalgar stalks beneath the waves.
seeing the jump jets back at sea far more often.
they’re also forever at loggerheads). Firth and Northumberland, not least because it The emphasis for this Joint Warrior – 092, 09 is
Seven Harriers from Cottesmore have joined the
But that’s not the only change to Joint Warrior, means the RAF doesn’t have to spend time flying the year and it’s the second Joint Warrior of 2009
carrier, accompanied by 13 pilots and some 140
the major exercise run twice a year in the UK. over the Highlands to reach its target. – is carrier strike, the ability to protect a carrier
staff and ground crew.
Indeed, the last time the Navy News team And joint though Joint Warrior is – there are task force from threats on, beneath and above the
What the Strike Wing possesses in abundance
pitched up for Joint Warrior it was a Joint Maritime nearly 40 aircraft and 500 troops involved in the waves, and to strike at one’s enemies.
is combat experience. “Everyone who deployed
Course (and there are still plenty in the RN who latest exercise – there’s a hell of a lot of naval “We have a ‘golf club bag’ of scenarios and
to Afghanistan used ordnance, all in support
refer, not necessarily lovingly, to ‘JMCs’). involvement: 18 international warships and pick out the clubs we need,” explains Lt Cdr Jo
of our troops on the ground who were taking
Since then it’s gone through two name changes, auxiliaries, three submarines, a dozen helicopters, Webber, one of the planning staff (more about
a clobbering,” says Lt Cdr Paul Tremelling,
fi rst Neptune Warrior – ‘warrior’ refl ecting the a couple of tugs… and four jetskis (for fast-attack them later). marina Continued on page 26
025-027_NN_Nov.indd 1 20/10/09 11:52:01
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