4 NAVY NEWS, JULY 2010


Get-go York home


IN WEATHER which you might call Falklands-esque (cool, overcast, breezy), HMS York brought the curtain down on a six- month deployment. Mercifully, it’s not been all grey for the veteran destroyer during her half-year patrolling Britain’s South Atlantic possessions. No, there was white too (snow in South Georgia). And sandy (beaches of Brazil). Even a little green (Cape Verde Islands). The core of the six months away from Portsmouth was devoted


to providing reassurance to the 3,000 or so Falklanders of Britain’s commitment to them – particularly germane given recent tensions in the South Atlantic. The ship took part in exercises with her affi liated Army unit, the


Yorkshire Regiment, fi ring 100 rounds of high explosive ordnance from her 4.5in ‘Kryten’ gun (plus another 900 rounds of non-HE shells) and worked with RAF Typhoon jets to hone her air defence skills.


CO Cdr Simon Staley said Team York had “succeeded on all counts” whether it was working with the other Services or visiting the furthest-fl ung parts of the old empire (the destroyer paid a rare visit to the extremely remote South Sandwich Islands; she wasn’t able to put sailors ashore courtesy of the weather, but she did race past fl ying the White Ensign). “My ship’s company has been focused on our mission from the get go,” Cdr Staley added. “They’ve been utterly professional, consistently resourceful – and determined to retain the sense of humour synonymous with the Senior Service.” Among the men and women who’d succeeded on all counts was CPO Dennis Nolan, welcomed home by his wife Teresa and sons Will, fi ve, and two-year-old Zac.


After two decades’ service, this was the senior rating’s fi nal deployment; he’ll spend the fi nal three years of his RN career in shore-based posts. “Patrolling the South Atlantic has defi nitely seen me end this side of my career on a high,” he said. “It’s been extremely challenging – especially working within the operational theatre of the Falkland Islands. We had to make sure that we did a decent job by providing a strong mix of reassurance and deterrence.”


Picture: LET John Woods


Chefs return but dusties not binned


AFTER six years some of the most unpopular Naval titles are being axed – having been given a resounding thumbs down by the men and women who bear them. Chefs are once again chefs,


stewards stewards and writers, well you guessed it. When ratings branches


‘A sad day...’


TO THE strains of Scotland the Brave on bagpipe, the very last of a breed of Cold War warriors ended her active career on


XO. The electronics have changed, of course, but we reckoned we could still take her to sea,” Cdr Forsythe added.


a spring afternoon in Devon. The fi nal act of 32 years of service by HMS Sceptre – the last Swiftsure-class nuclear submarine on active duties – was an eight-month deployment east of Suez, in the Indian and Atlantic Oceans which added 31,000 miles to her odometer. That deployment began in her home base


of Faslane. It ended in Devonport, where the boat now enters extended readiness until she formally decommissions in December. Some 170 loved ones made the long trek from the Clyde to the Hamoaze to welcome Sceptre home one last time. They witnessed the submarine’s long decommissioning pennant barely moving in the light breeze, as tugs Adept and Forceful gently nudged Sceptre alongside. They waited as eight men and the casing offi cer, all dressed in traditional submariner’s sweaters, ensured the boat was secured.


Among those witnessing the end of the fi nal


deployment was the man who led her on her fi rst tour of duty 32 years ago. Cdr Rob Forsythe watched Sceptre being launched in 1976 and took her to sea in 1978 “when the Cold War was very hot”. “There was a constant feeling of excitement – there


was always something exciting going on. “Sceptre was a well-built boat, she always ran well.


Picture: PO(AWT) Dutchy Holland, HMS York


It was technologically challenging, but also interesting and fun. At the time, she was the bee’s knees.” The boat, says her fi rst CO, has been around for half his lifetime – and he has followed her progress. “I was on board a couple of years ago with the


The last in a long line of commanding offi cers which began with Cdr Forsythe is Cdr Steve Waller, CO for the past two and a half years; he also served as her executive offi cer a decade ago. “This is the end of the era of S-boats. It’s a sad day for the submarine community, but we have signed off with a fl ourish having successfully completed a long and demanding worldwide deployment.


herself bowed out in 1992. The rest of the class were paid off during the fi rst decade of the 21st Century. And now Sceptre joins them. There is only so long


you can run a 32-year-old warship, however – not least because many of the fi rms which produced parts for her originally no longer exist. “It’s a crying shame that she’s going,” said Chef


Royal Navy between the end of the 1960s and beginning of the 1980s, at a total cost to the taxpayer of more than £330m. Swiftsure


that began life as archetypal Cold War warriors have adapted to today’s needs.” Six Swiftsure boats were built for the


“Sceptre has proven how well submarines


‘Del’ Trotter, who’s served on four S-boats. “You have to work that little bit harder because Sceptre’s an old boat, but she’s a graceful old lady, a Cold War warrior sent around the world. “On S-boats you’re out making a difference, doing something which affects the world. Six months after the patrol you’ll see something on the news and realise it’s a direct result of the information you gathered.” For the next six months, the boat will be kept ticking over in case she’s needed; if she’s not, she’ll remain alongside until formally decommissioning to join other out-of-service boats in Devonport.


underwent a thorough overhaul back in 2004 and the Logistics Branch was formed – refl ecting the changes to the daily life and qualifi cations of thousands of sailors – new titles were also introduced. Everyone in the branch became logisticians. Chefs became Logisticians (Catering Services (Preparation)), stewards Logisticians (Catering Services (Delivery)) and Writers Logisticians (Personnel). And the new titles have not been popular – or as a spokesman for the RN’s personnel arm put it “the revised forms of address and specialist titles have not been welcomed so warmly”. Indeed, sailors have struggled to get used to the new titles in day-to-day life at sea and ashore… and struggled to make brief pipes (and regular Navy News readers may have noticed the odd swipe at the cumbersome titles…).


So after holding extensive consultation with junior and senior members of the RN logistics branch, Second Sea Lord Vice Admiral Sir Alan Massey has agreed to two signifi cant changes:


■ titles such as writer, chef and steward are being formally reintroduced at the junior rate level (e.g. Logistician (Chef) Smith); for senior rates, the catering services title is being resurrected (e.g. PO Logistician (Catering Services) Smith). ■ in everyday usage such as pipes and addressing shipmates, the title Logistician will be dropped in favour of Chef Smith, Steward Jones, Writer Bloggs. For senior rates, it’ll be PO Caterer Smith, Chief Writer Bloggs.


However, not all the title changes introduced in 2004 are going. Jack Dusties rather like their Logistician (Supply Chain) title – instead of the former Stores Accountant – so it is being retained, but in everyday use Logistician (Supply Chain) Smith will be referred to as SC Smith, rather than Logs/Logistician Smith.


See 2-6 (page 34) for details, or Galaxy 2010-10.


Toul time for Argus


IT MUST be nice to be in the South of France at this time of year.


Just ask the crew of RFA Argus who took their ship to Toulon with two Merlins from 829 Naval Air Squadron in Culdrose. The aviation training ship/


primary casualty receiving facility (she can cope with 100 wounded/ injured personnel in a state-of- the-art hospital suite) made for the Med to take part in the 100th birthday of l’aviation navale – the French Fleet Air Arm, which is one year younger than its RN ally. Argus served as an air control


platform for displays over the home of France’s Mediterranean Fleet as well as providing support for the two 829 whirlybirds. The Culdrose fl iers were joined


● Farewell old friend... Capt John Edgell, Captain (SM) Devonport Flotilla, and Cdre Jon Westbrook, Commodore Faslane Flotilla, discuss Sceptre’s passing


Picture: LA(Phot) Claire Jones, FRPU West


in Toulon skies by the Black Cats, whose two Lynx performed their trademark display, set to be seen at 20 air shows this summer. The visit to the South of France was the fi rst act of a six- month deployment for Argus, which has recently emerged from a £23m refi t. She’ll shortly be embarking RN medics for an exercise making use of her hospital facilities.


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