20 NAVY NEWS, JULY 2010 Auspicious


That’s right, it’s a Peruvian submarine. And arrayed behind it an international panoply of maritime power as Britain’s flagship naval deployment of 2010 knuckles down to business. BAP (Buque Armada Peruana – Peruvian Naval Ship) Angamos leads (from left to right) USS Mahan, USNS Leroy Grumman, USS Robert G Bradley, HMS Sutherland, Auriga flagship HMS Ark Royal, RFA Fort George, HMS Liverpool, USS Barry and USS Carr. This wonderful sight off the Eastern Seaboard of the United States was captured by one member of Ark’s two-strong photographic section, LA(Phot) Gregg Macready, who was hanging out of a Lynx Mk3 from 815 Naval Air Squadron. “We were very fortunate with the weather and the sea state which added up to being able to capture an impressive show of force,” says Gregg.


NOW this is something you don’t see every day.


And, one might add, we were fortunate to have such a skilled lensman in the back of a cab... Much as pretty pictures are (a) very nice and (b) fill the pages of this newspaper, Auriga isn’t about photo opportunities. “Events such as the photographic exercise


And that explains why a dozen US Marine Corps Harriers set down on Ark Royal’s flight deck for the early stages of Auriga. The jets – AV8B variants from Marine Air Group 14 based at Cherry Point, North Carolina – planned up to 70 sorties a day aboard Ark.


So they needed a few maintainers and staff


officers as well as the pilots – 140 personnel in all.


The Marines – their aircraft emblazoned with the Corps’ legendary motto Semper fidelis (always faithful) – spent a fortnight aboard Ark. “Ark Royal is a fantastic ship with a


profound history – I felt privileged to be onboard representing the US Marine Corps,” said Col Russell Sanborn, MAG 14’s Commanding Officer. With all these zoomies on board, there’s a fair bit of work for Ark’s met office. For most of the past decade, the weather forecasters on the carrier haven’t been overly bothered about what happens above 5,000ft.


With the carrier devoted to helicopter operations... and helicopter operations generally conducted below 5,000ft, there wasn’t a great deal of need to look at higher altitudes. As Ark’s now replaced Illustrious as the Harrier


provide a clear visual representation of the kind of power available to the strike group commander,” explains Cdr Simon Ward, chief of staff of the Auriga force’s commander, Cdre Simon Ancona. “The ability to seamlessly integrate and operate with our main coalition ally is one of the key aims of the Auriga deployment.”


carrier, that’s all changed. The meteorological department is expected to


produce extremely detailed forecasts all the way up to 40,000ft. Indeed, the forecaster is expected to give two full aviation forecasts every day and up to 20 operation briefs. There are also bespoke forecasts


for anti-submarine operations and specific aerial missions. And there’s a longer-term forecast too covering the next 48 hours. When Ark’s at flying stations, one of the junior observers, such as AB Grace Jones, takes readings every hour: air temperature, relative humidity, wave height, swell, visibility, cloud cover, cloud height. “A sea bucket or Sonar 2013 is used to observe the sea surface temperature,” AB Jones adds. “It’s used to calculate survival times in the event of a possible aircraft ditching or man overboard.”


All the readings, observations and data gathered helps generate a ‘colour code’. Red is bad, obviously. Green, however, is not the best; fliers under training can’t fly in weather worse than ‘green’, for example. No, colour code blue is the one all fliers are hoping for. All in all, says Ark’s senior meteorologist Lt Cdr Andy Jacob, “it’s an assignment one aspires to – where you can prove your worth in one of the most challenging forecasting environments that a Royal Navy forecaster can be expected to work.”


Meanwhile aboard HMS Sutherland... Britain’s most potent frigate (Sonar 2087, Merlin, the latest version of Seawolf) was chasing submarines – the Type 23’s raison d’être when they were designed in the ’80s although they’ve since


And you have to keep a close eye on electric storms and static discharges. Aside from being very very frightening, thunderbolts and lightning pose grave danger to aircraft and bring a halt to all refuelling.


evolved into more general-purpose warships. 2087 gives the hunter the edge over the hunted


(it’s widely touted by British boffins as the best anti-submarine sonar out there). Add Merlin to the mix and, hey presto, bye bye submarine... ...as a delegation from the US Navy discovered when they spent some time with F81. “Sonar 2087 and the Merlin helicopter combined with the Royal Navy’s enhanced doctrine has resulted in Sutherland making a genuinely positive impression on the United States Navy,” says Sutherland’s CO Cdr John Payne. “They are very keen to understand our niche skill set and are clearly interested in what the Royal Navy and UK industry has to offer.” The frigate then broke away from the task


group and made for Baltimore for a Defence and Security Industry Day.


British industries used the warship as a stage for their wares, while more than 3,000 Baltimoreans (not a made-up word, we looked it up – Ed) took the rare opportunity to visit a British frigate. Sutherland rounded off a highly-benefi cial visit


by returning a salute to US Fort McHenry with a local piper embarked – a fi tting tribute to US Memorial Day. On rejoining the Auriga group Sutherland engaged agile remote-controlled targets (a few steps up from the RN’s infl atable ‘killer tomatoes’) directed by Canadian frigate HMCS Montréal. The gunnery practice proved an excellent test of Sutherland’s newly-installed Automated Small Calibre Gun, ultimately resulting in the drones being neutralised.


picture: la(phot) gregg macready, hms ark royal


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