NAVY NEWS, DECEMBER 2009 25
ch blood. It’s still noisy, dangerous. impair a ship’s ability to fi ght – there are a couple of Oh, and the ventilation’s a bit weak so if there’s “You have to come down here, to see all the
ber Other jobs haven’t changed either. Despite the cabins set aside for those infected. a lot of steam it can give the impression of raining equipment working to appreciate what it can do. It
our changes to the names of their respective branches It’s not the only vital component of a 45 to inside the galley. is a fantastic bit of kit,” Ginge enthuses.
es between Daring’s conception and birth, stewards benefi t from the ship’s size. The NAAFI is less Still, mustn’t grumble… “There’s a lot to learn. Sometimes I feel jealous
’re are still stewards, writers still writers. shoecupboard (as it is on most destroyers/frigates), of the guys on other ships. But most of the time I
out “The real change for us hasn’t been Type 45 but more Arkwright’s store (minus Arkwright, G-G-G- DARING’S CO Capt Paddy McAlpine bears these don’t…”
do JPA,” says PO(Wtr) Lee ‘Rattler’ Morgan, a jovial Granville and fi nger-chomping till). trials and tribulations phlegmatically. You should
gy, Geordie with a penchant for pub quizzes. “It will take an act of God to get me off this ship expect teething troubles with the fi rst ship of a WHICH rather neatly sums up the Daring
He’s one of 40 senior rates aboard Daring. Unlike – and even then I’ll be fi ghting,” beams NAAFI new class. You should certainly expect them in one experience.
ne. the offi cers, the petty offi cers and chiefs have manager Wayne Lindo. where four fi fths of the kit is new to the RN. If you’re expecting a cruise liner in pusser’s grey,
of started to turn their ship into a home as well as a “It’s probably the fi rst ship we’ve been in where “It’s not quite sail to steam, but Daring is a think again. Her programme is punishing – plenty of
place of work. we’ve been asked about what we want.” quantum leap forward,” he says. “Sometimes I feel sticks, few carrots.
on They’ve turned their mess into a large bar/pub, And what they want is pick and mix, biccies, Mars a bit like Captain Kirk. We are boldly going. There’s a lot of hard work, a hell of a lot of trials,
an complete with a bright maroon door and letter box bars, ice creams, even an all-day breakfast. In a tin. “People do need to have patience. There are a bare minimum of port visits and runs ashore.
ck just to be quintessentially British. With a microwave to heat it up. some frustrating days, but there are others when There are just 180 men and women to look after 780
ke That mess is dwarfed by the junior rates’ rest area. “The idea’s to run it like an old-style shop,” what we do is breathtaking.” compartments. There are fewer than 300 on a Type
ps ET(ME) ‘Hans’ Anderson was expecting “something Wayne adds. “We’ve found Daring isn’t the fi rst RN ship 23, with an identical number of sailors.
ble the size of a shoebox” when it came to the mess on that we’re selling as much as propelled through the waters And the ship’s programme is, CPO(Logs(SC)) Paul
his fi rst ship. Obviously, he was thinking of Goliath’s on a 42, even though there
“People are the most
electrically – but she takes Buckley rues, “last minute dot com”.
uld shoebox… are 100 fewer crew.” the concept to the next level. His task is made all the harder because the spare
The 45s’ junior messes are unique – but not just Darings, of course,
important part of the
The generators on Albion and parts contract for the 45s hasn’t kicked in yet… but
fer because of their size; they’re also the fi rst mixed shouldn’t need recourse to
ship. Without them, we’d
Bulwark provide in excess of items already need replacing because of Daring’s
an JRs’ mess in British destroyers… although someone visit the NAAFI. They are six megawatts. Times that by punishing trials schedule.
forgot to tell the Daring decorators. amply fed by a team of seven
be far behind where we
seven (and a bit) on Daring. “It’s defi nitely not an easier life on Daring – it’s
42 It is, well, a bit blokey. Russell Crowe in Gladiator, chefs and two caterers.
are today.”
Forty-six megawatts to be the nature of the beast being the fi rst of class,”
he Tom Cruise in Top Gun, Bobby Moore lifting the How amply? 150 loaves precise. That’s enough to keep the senior rate points out. “She might look nice
n if Jules Rimet Trophy, Al Pacino wielding a machine- of bread, 42 gallons of soup, – PO Lee ‘Rattler’ Morgan the people of Lincoln powered and shiny, but you have to look at the other side of
gun in Scarface – all these posters, and more, line 2,000 tea bags, 50kg bacon, up… all 100,000 of them. the coin. Luckily people are willing to go that extra
the walls. It could do with the feminine touch… 1,500 eggs, 1,000kg potatoes As she’s driven by electrical mile.”
ks “Listening to some of the older lads talk about the every 90 days... motors, there’s no gearbox – one fewer (very large RPO Bobby Lennox chips in: “Sometimes you
ck stokers’ mess on other ships, we get the size and That’s a lot of grub. Luckily, a lift links the galley and expensive) working part to worry about. wish you were on a different ship – but then I went
comfort, they got the close-knit community,” says directly with the stores, which means getting all the But in place of the gearbox, there’s a new Achilles’ to see a mate on a 42 the other day. I’d forgotten
be Hans. provisions for the day ahead is a proverbial piece heel: the GTA lubrication oil skid which ensures the how dark and cramped they are.”
“But the mixed mess is good – you do get into of cake. alternator is well oiled. If it packs up, so too the PO Morgan adds: “People are the most important
he the spirit of all life on board, not just your own Indeed, thanks to that lift and pallets, you can alternator, which means no power, which means part of the ship. Without them, we’d be far behind
ed department.” store ship for three months in a single day using just dead duck Daring. where we are today.”
ve PO(MA) Emma Boswell concurs: “Having the ten sailors. No more human chains passing boxes “It’s the nightmare scenario,” says LET(ME) Ginge So a year after fi rst hoisting the White Ensign,
messes together really does help with cohesion. throughout the ship. Cannon. “To replace it would be a hell of a job.” HMS Daring remains a ‘work in progress’. There are
E It’s not just a male/female thing. Stokers, weapons On the down side, some important lessons from So it’s one piece of kit the engineers keep a very lessons learned (already passed on to her younger
engineers, ops room all live together, and you have the past have been forgotten. There’s no ceramic- close eye on. Not that they ignore the other engines sisters) and there’s a long road ahead – Basic
a much better understanding of what everyone does tiled fl oor in the galley. and machinery buzzing and whirring away. Operational Sea Training, fi rst deployment, fi rst
on a day-to-day basis.” The result initially, says LLogs Jonah Jones, a “Compared with a 42, it’s clean,” says Ginge. missile fi ring.
to She’s in charge of Daring’s sick bay – more veteran of HM Ships Cardiff, Exeter and Invincible, “Compared with a carrier it’s quiet.” And at the end of the road?
a ‘hospitalette’. Featuring a surgery and ward, “was a deck like an ice rink. A number of chefs went How quiet? Well, you can actually hear pipes over “Once we have mastered everything, this will
to it’s roughly three times the size of the equivalent arse-over-tit (technical term – Ed) because it was the public address system. You can actually hold a be an easy ship to fi ght, providing an umbrella of
he section on a Type 23 or 42. But Daring also has a treacherous.” It’s now been re-laid… conversation without yelling. protection in the air perhaps unsurpassed in the
till ‘quarantine zone’; if anyone goes down with world today,” says Capt McAlpine emphatically.
nd Delhi belly or fl u – both of which can severely Not quite a pot of gold, but we’ll take it…
October
September
First and the last!
We r
an int
o HMS Y
ork
June
Our first tast
e of
off P
lymouth. Not
am
freedom! T
he p
eople of
liter
ally
, ob
viously
...
t
HMS S
ceptr
e had us in
her sights. T
hankfully
,
July
she didn’t pull the
September
em
b
Birmingham aw
arded us
their highest honour
.
Commissioning day!
trigger
.
Fairly gr
otty w
eather!
Our first Nav
y Day
s.
Count
ess of W
essex
It was busy!
picture: po(phot) amanda reynolds, dprn
looked nic
e though.
Daring.indd 3 18/11/09 18:47:45
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