10 NAVY NEWS, NOVEMBER 2010
● Ceremonial sunset brings an end to an offi cial reception in Al Jubayl, Saudi Arabia
● We go faster if we sail downhill... HMS Somerset punches through the Gulf during CTF 152 patrol duties and (below) the entire boarding team – 815 NAS Lynx Mk8 (with .5 calibre M3M gun to make/ruin your day), two RIBS, and two dozen determined sailors, Royal Marines and airmen – take a break from training to pose for the camera
enjoying some ‘gain’. Well, this month it’s back to the ‘pain’...
Dubai done, the frigate returned to sea for intensive patrolling of the central and northern Gulf – the reason why she’s deployed from her home port of Devonport for seven months. In the north, Somerset has helped to support Iraq by defending
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Terminal (known to any matelot who’s patrolled these waters simply as ABOT) – the newer of the two platforms which pumps the country’s chief export into waiting tankers.
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And further south in the central Gulf, the Type 23 slotted into Combined Task Force 152, responsible for maritime security in the entire Arabian Gulf – not to be confused with CTF 150 (Indian Ocean) and 151 (Gulf of Aden)... and yes, we have to look those up every time, too...
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So what does a maritime security patrol entail? Well,
sails around her allocated area and locates concentrations of dhows.
f by night Somerset
And by day the boarding team of sailors and Royal Marines from Fleet Protection Group are sent off in Somerset’s RIBs and her 815 NAS Lynx to carry out ‘approach and assist visits’; as of late October, the frigate’s men and women had
the Al Basrah Oil
WE LAST caught up with the good folk of Her Majesty’s Ship Somerset in the metropolis of Dubai
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Operational Stand Down in
approached and assisted some 210 vessels.
The aim is to reassure the seafaring community and ensure the safety of legitimate commercial maritime activities. And when not carrying out
Stevenson, was dispatched by seaboat.
boardings for real, the boarding team carries them out for practice. All month, every month the party refi nes its knowledge – and execution – of helicopter fast roping and undergoes constant tactical tuition. “My team has been out on the water, face-to- face with local sailors, reassuring them of the Coalition’s tasking to protect and defend their way of life,” said boarding offi cer Lt Jim Harkin. “By engaging in fi rst- hand human interaction we have established patterns of life and gathered vital information. Judging by the reaction we receive our presence throughout the Gulf is certainly welcome.”
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In the midst of these patrols, a frisson of excitement... F82 picked up a mayday call from the American destroyer USS Milius also bimbling (with purpose, of course) around the Gulf.
After a meticulous examina- tion, nine small stitches were painstakingly inserted into the gaping wound, closing it. “It was a particularly tricky wound to deal with,” said Surg Lt Stevenson.
“If the chef had severed the tendon or fractured the bone, I think he would have had to fl y off to a hospital facility for further treatment, but fortunately we were able to deal with it locally and achieved a satisfying result.”
furthe fortun to dea ach res
headquarters in Al Jabayl. During her fi rst night alongside, Somerset hosted a reception for Britain’s new Ambassador to Riyadh, Sir Tom Phillips and Cdre Tim Fraser, United
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One of Milius’ chefs suffered an injured hand when a heavy metal tray fell on to it, tearing through the tissues. The injury was suffi ciently serious that the Arleigh-Burke considered evacuating the casualty to Kuwait... ...but Somerset to the rescue. Her medical offi cer, Surg Lt Tom
Component Commander (UKMCC) as well as a number of local dignitaries. The VIPs were treated to a demonstration of what Somerset can do, including a display from the Boarding Team and a simulated air defence exercise. Sir Tom was also briefed on the Royal Navy’s role in the Arabian Gulf and the contribution Somerset has made to the overall British mission in the region.
Somerset
During the period alongside hosted
several Kingdom Maritime of Nav fo
ti o n
groups of offi cer cadets from the nearby King Fahd Naval Academy, which has close ties with our own Britannia Royal Naval College.
ratings took the opportunity of being alongside to hold Pickle Night – commemorating the namesake vessel which brought news of victory at Trafalgar and death of Admiral Lord Nelson to England (yes, before you ask, they did hold it several weeks early...).
Frisson over, it was time to concentrate on meeting the neighbours in the form of Royal Saudi Navy its
at Eastern the
home Fleet
the reception and the ship’s company enjoyed considerable reciprocal hospitality in the various residential compounds ashore. On sailing from Saudi Arabia, Somerset hosted 20 cadets from the naval academy for a day. They were given a tour of Somerset, witnessed Offi cer of the Watch manoeuvres and observed an exercise with the Al Farouq, an Al Siddiq-class patrol boat. Two Saudi offi cer
spending an extended period at sea with Somerset, to gain an understanding into how the Royal Navy operates... ... which at present involves
patrolling the Gulf once more on CTF 152 duties.
● Somerset carries out a RAS with the American tanker USNS Joshua Humphreys
Pictures: LA(Phot) Jenny Lodge, FRPU East and Lt Henderson, 815 NAS
s are also Many of them attended
Meanwhile, the frigate’s senior
The visit to Al Jubayl was also an opportunity to meet the large expatriate community in Saudi Arabia.
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