14 NAVY NEWS, OCTOBER 2010
Putting the
got it. You want to swim with turtles (and in the azure waters of
Y sharks)
Florida Keys? Sorted. You want to chase drug runners
the
around the Caribbean by helicopter and hovercraft? I think we can manage that. You want to attend the court of the mighty King Neptune? No problem. You want to don your best war paint for a flight deck tug of war? Yup, we can do that. A ceremonial entry into Rio? Aye, that’s on the menu.
rope on to white crystal sands of a Brazilian beach? Piece of cake. All in a month’s work for Britain’s biggest warship, HMS Ocean. While the rest of the Auriga task
Leap out of landing craft or rapid
OU want a stuffed cat jumping out of a plane at 10,000ft strapped to a Royal Marine? You
in three years. Ocean’s stay in these waters
was relatively brief – but she used the passage to scour the area for drug-runners, working with the Joint Inter-Agency Task Force, the US-led organisation overseeing the war on illegal narcotics in the Caribbean region. If that’s not exciting enough, well
group turned for home when the amphibious exercise ended in August, the Mighty O stayed behind in the States for some mid-deployment TLC before the second phase of her five- month 2010 sortie. That four-week spell in Mayport permitted downtime for the hundreds of men and women aboard.
And what do you do if you’ve got leave in Florida? You head to Las Vegas, of course. Or Washington. New York. San Francisco. New Orleans. LA. For those Mighty Os who stayed in the Sunshine State there was the chance to learn to dive in pools in the Keys before heading into the open waters of the Caribbean to swim with sharks and turtles. Or, like Capt Andy Pugsley RM, in charge of Ocean’s landing craft, you can make for Deland (it’s about 20 miles from de sea – sorry) and tandem skydive with Ocean’s mascot Ship’s Cat (the name’s a giveaway). Both survived the jump (the cat apparently landed on its feet...). Sadly you can’t scuba or skydive for ever (unless you’re a scuba or skydiving instructor, of course) so it was back to the Mighty O and back to sea for the first foray into the Caribbean
there’s always a spot of phys. Now you could run a half marathon (as WO Plant did to help families with children born with birth defects). Or you could run a 30-mile yomp in full kit on the gym treadmills (as RM Captains Abouzeid and Beete did for the RNRM Benevolent Trust). Or you could organise a more leisurely (and, let’s face it, fun) horse racing night (as arranged by the POs/ Sergeants’ Mess for Castle Green Community School in Sunderland). The net total of all this sweat and beers (the latter at the race night)? A cool £2,500.
M e
nt l i
of the statue of Christ the Redeemer) welcoming her from the Corcovado. There are some things money can’t
buy…
into Rio – the first a shortish affair, the second a longer, more formal visit. The stops in the famous city bracketed one of the main reasons for this rare foray into such waters for the assault ship: an amphibious landing on an isthmus some 50 miles west of Rio. Aboard Ocean are the Royal Marines of 539 Assault Squadron – men whose skills are honed to a ‘t’ after amphibious war games involving the RN and US Navy on the Eastern Seaboard during the summer.
And so to the Southern Atlantic – possibly for the first time in her 12-year career – as the carrier made for Rio for a spot of defence diplomacy and exercises with the Brazilian Navy. With the usual fanfare those who’d
not crossed the Equator before were hauled in front of King Neptune and his court for the age-old ‘crossing the line’ ceremony.
After the fun, the formalities. It’s a good 2,000 or so miles from the Equator to Brazil’s most famous port. Plenty of time to practise drill and ceremonial sunset for the official reception and iron those whites for Procedure Alpha into Rio Harbour.
A British capital ship sailing into Rio is a once-in-a-lifetime moment. So
photographer LA Guy Pool was aloft in a helicopter to record the occasion. He’s been here before, many moons ago in HMS Endurance in photographer days.
luckily the ship’s official his pre-
were afforded some stunning views as Ocean glided past Pão de Açúcar – Sugar Loaf Mountain – with the outstretched arms of Jesus (in the form
The leading hand and the Lynx crew
The commandos were joined by their Brazilian counterparts – 100 marines from 3rd Infantry Battalion, Amphibious Division – for a three-day joint exercise (beach landings, rapid roping from helicopters, lots of camo, green berets shouting “argh” with their best war faces – typical RM fare), while Ocean played host to Brazilian sailors from BNS Rio De Janeiro.
t aft involv on the the s T
jo c
(be hi b een
“a professional and impressive force” in the words of Ocean’s CO Capt Keith Blount.
The Brazilian marines proved to be
The Os and commandos offered up their amphibious expertise, carrying out drills with the Brazilian marines and pilots, before going ashore by sea (landing craft, offshore raiding craft and hovercraft) and air (Lynx) on the lush island of Marambaia. “It’s exciting to be working with the Brazilians – we don’t do it very often and it makes you think differently about how you might go about your job,” said PO(ET) Matt Christie. “To be able to experience such amazing places around the world is one of the main attractions of the job – and this is an amazing part of the world. He adds a caveat however: “If we
don’t carry out our roles properly it affects the team, so in that sense it is business as usual.” Still, there are worse places in the world to be conducting ‘usual business’...
a A In fact, Ocean made two entries
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48