NAVY NEWS, JULY 2010


5


Crumbs, ten years have fl own by...


THERE’s cake aplenty on HMS Kent.


Let us re-phrase that. There was cake aplenty on HMS Kent... but it’s all been scoffed.


● A replenishment at sea of ammunition on HMS Albion


Chatham’s Lynx over the Moon


despite the raging cyclone. The frigate picked up an SOS from the merchantman off the Horn of Africa as she struggled in Force 10 winds.


As the Type 22 covered the 175 miles of ocean to reach the Dubai Moon’s last-reported location, the storm worsened – it was officially re-classified as a tropical cyclone – as did the transporter’s plight.


Her cargo of vehicles shifted, she became unstable and began to list heavily.


The ship drifted ever-closer to the island of Abd Al Kuri, but the skill of her master managed to prevent Dubai Moon running aground.


Due to the uncharted nature of these shallow waters Chatham was unable to follow and had to battle through the cyclone to skirt around the island to the north.


By now, the Dubai Moon’s skipper Hassan Madar was becoming increasingly desperate. The cyclone was pushing his ship towards another island, Jazirat Samhah. As a last act, he dropped her anchors. Although they did not take permanent hold, they prevented the transporter being dashed on a coral reef. By the time Chatham was within range of the foundering vessel, the storm was abating slightly – enough at least to launch her 815 NAS Lynx for a rescue mission. When fl ig


ht commander and pilot Lt Pete


Higgins arrived on the scene, he lowered winchman AET Richard Wilmot on to the severely-listing deck. The 21-year-old rating found the deck was like an ice rink from the mixture of oil and seawater swilling around.


He managed to stand up holding on to a rail and began to brief one of the Dubai Moon’s crew when he slipped. His winchwire stopped him hurtling into the sea. The rating was lowered for a second attempt, hauling himself along the deck using a rope the sailors had fi xed to the guardrail. After rescuing one crewman, the exhausted winchman was violently ill – the exertions of the rescue plus 36 hours of ploughing through the storm. There was no way he could continue. Luckily, Chatham was hosting a visiting team of aviation inspectors, including qualifi ed Lynx crewman Lt Cdr Graham Chesterman. After being briefed by the ill AET Wilmot, he took over winchman duties. “The fi rst lift was interesting as I realised just how slippery the deck was – and how sporty it was going to be,” he said.


THESE are the fi nal moments of the vehicle transporter MV Dubai Moon – after all 23 crew had been carried to safety by the Lynx of HMS Chatham,


“I soon got into the routine of landing on my bottom or back, depending on how the ship was rolling.”


For nearly four hours, the Lynx crew struggled to lift the Dubai Moon sailors to safety; some of the latter were beginning to panic. “We got all 23 off the ship without losing anyone,” said Lt Cdr Chesterman. “Sitting in the back of the aircraft with the guys we had just lifted and seeing their relieved, smiling faces made it so worthwhile.”


Lt Higgins added: “The combination of weather conditions at the very edge of our operating limits, excessive ship roll and a very slippery deck covered in oil made this a very challenging rescue operation, especially for the winchman.” Safely aboard Chatham, Capt Madar, Dubai Moon’s


fulsome in his praise for the Britons. Ethiopian master, was


“If we were not rescued by the Royal Navy we all would have perished with my ship,” he said.


“Normally we operate close to the coast, but we had to go far out to sea to avoid the pirates. That meant we could not fi nd shelter from the storm.”


Ah yes, the pirates. Chatham is here as flagship of NATO’s Standing Maritime Group 2 which is trying to enforce the rule of law off the Horn of Africa.


At the height of those operations (and long after the cyclone had died out thankfully) Britain’s second most senior sailor – Commander-in-Chief Fleet, Admiral Sir Trevor Soar – jumped aboard. In between formal briefings from Cdre Steve Chick, the RN commander of the NATO group, and CO Cdr Simon Huntington and his team, Admiral Soar witnessed a night-time small arms shoot... and took the opportunity to fire a number of the weapons himself. On the admiral’s final day with ‘Up and at ’em’, a Japanese Navy aircraft detected a dhow towing two smaller skiffs in the Internationally Recommended Transit Corridor (IRTC) – the invisible ‘safety box’ where Allied navies do their utmost to protect shipping. A dhow accompanied by two skiffs is often the modus operandi of Somali pirates. In this case, it was a fishing dhow lawfully going about its trade. An RN/RM boarding team was dispatched on an ‘assurance visit’ to explain the work of the Allied navies in the region. “During Chatham’s time in the area piracy has been significantly reduced in the Gulf of Aden and operations continue to disrupt piracy in the Somali Basin,” said Admiral Soar.


“They were the only people to respond to our distress call; we owe them our lives.


The best


deserve the best


“It has been a privilege to visit Chatham on operations and to witness first-hand the effectiveness of counter-piracy efforts and regional engagement in the area of operations.”


● CINC Fleet Admiral Sir Trevor Soar accompanies Chatham’s RN/RM boarding team on an assurance patrol in the Gulf of Aden Pictures: PO(Phot) Owen King, RN Photographer of the Year


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Ammunition drop for Albion gunners


AN 847 NAS Lynx made quick work of bringing several tons of ammunition to assault ship HMS Albion from RFA Largs Bay. The two ships are part of the


Auriga amphibious task group, journeying across the Atlantic to visit our American cousins. And the ammunition? Well, that means that the 105mm light guns of 29 Commando Royal Artillery, normally based in The Citadel at Plymouth, will be bringing their power to bear on the ranges in Camp Lejeune in Virginia. The Amphibious Task Group set out some weeks later than the Carrier Strike Group, led by HMS Ark Royal, which is already at work off the US coast. But the men and women of Albion were determined to make good use of their crossing time, running exercises and competitions to sharpen their maritime skills and keep up the tempo of their training before launching into the main exercises once they reach America. Sailors and Marines also joined


to mark the death of Mne Scott Taylor from Taunton-based 40 Commando who was one of the fierce toll of deaths in Afghanistan in the month of June. Albion’s Cdr Geoff Wintle said:


“It has been a largely uneventful crossing of the Atlantic but it has given the battle staff from Commander Amphibious Task Group and 3 Commando Brigade RM time to get their headquarters integrated within the ships. “The embarked forces have been conducting training and getting their kit and vehicles ready for what will be a demanding exercise, both ashore and afl oat. “While we are still many miles from the Carrier Group, led by Ark Royal, we have started to coordinate plans and processes ready for when we meet up in a couple of weeks time. “In short, we are ready for the


exercise and looking forward to working as a large UK Task Group for the fi rst time in several years.” ■ See pages 13 and 20-21 for more from Auriga


was commissioned – number 14 of a class of 16 (although three have subsequently paid off). Back at the original


commissioning – June 8 2000 – the weather was scorching and Kent was known as the ‘Millennium Frigate’ (because she entered service in the new millennium...). Ten years to the day, the


It is ten years since the Type 23


weather wasn’t scorching and Kent’s simply known as, er, Kent. Still, there was cake. The entire ship’s company


gathered on the flight deck with the ship alongside in Portsmouth Naval Base.


Priest performed the honours, cutting into a birthday cake with his youngest sailor, AB Brown. “It’s an unparalleled honour to be in command of one of Her Majesty’s warships, but it is even more memorable when you are the captain for special occasions such as Kent’s tenth birthday,” said Cdr Cooke-Priest.


future, the ship was in Sweden as Navy News went to press promoting ties between the UK and the Scandinavian nation, before heading for Cardiff to take part in national Armed Forces Day celebrations. We’ll have more from Kent in next month’s paper.


As for the more imminent And there Cdr Nick Cooke-


As things stand there’ll be 20th and 30th birthday parties for the Type 23; she’s due to remain in service until 2034.


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