NAVY NEWS, DECEMBER 2010


5


THE most active fl ight deck in the Fleet this autumn belonged not to a carrier, assault ship or even a frigate, but RFA Fort George – typically a one-stop support ship for the Fleet.


But for seven weeks the auxiliary was at the hub of fl ight training in UK waters.


First aboard were 824 NAS – the Merlin training squadron from Culdrose – before Fort


Scotland for Joint Warrior... swapping one bunch of Merlins for another as 814 joined the ship.


hours of fl ying during the fortnight with Fort George on the Joint Warrior exercise before disembarking to work with HMS York and a Sea Dart launch (not, mercifully, at the Merlins...). While York was blasting away with her missiles, Fort George was making for the Bristol Channel to meet up with the RAF. A Search and Rescue Sea King – painted in the Crabs’ distinctive yellow livery – from Chivenor fl ew on board as the RAF trained four pilots in the art of deck landing and taking off, something they’ll probably be asked to perform for real as air-sea rescue crews. Now we can’t have RAF SAR muscling in our patch too much. So with one bright yellow Sea


S The Flying Tigers squeezed in 90 George headed to North-West t


By George, we’re busy Look who’s stalking


King ‘parked’ on Fort George’s fl ight deck, two more veteran whirlybirds fl ew on to the RFA... in the more familiar red and grey of 771 NAS. “It was very unusual to see a bright yellow


who were bolstered by personnel from the Maritime Aviation Support Force in Culdrose, who support aviation across the RN and RFA. As the SAR helicopters departed, three more Sea Kings arrived – this time the green junglies of 848 NAS, ready for ten days of training at sea. And if that wasn’t enough, the Crabs returned, this time in the form of a Chinook, eager to pick up fi ve days of sea time.


op


aircraft on the fl ight deck of Fort George – and even more unusual to see it behind grey and red aircraft,” said Lt Matt Weetch, the RN aviation support offi cer aboard Fort George. Like their 22 Sqn counterparts, the Ace of Clubs were on board to hone deck landing skills – which they did over four days of intense fl ying activity. With three Sea Kings aboard Fort George, it also meant some good practice for two Flyco offi cers who oversee deck operations – and for the RFA deck handlers,


s C


WHY it’s the sailors of HMS St Albans, carrying out board and search training aboard the former minehunter HMS Brecon – now a training vessel at HMS Raleigh.


The Saints are only just back from six months of pretty much non-stop board and search ops in the Gulf and environs...


...And they’ll be off doing board and search ops again in the New Year. But there’s always room for top-up


training, hence the trip to the West Country and the Board and Search School, run by 1 Assault Group RM. Seventeen members of the frigate’s boarding team decamped to Cornwall for lectures followed by boardings by air and sea.


fl ying stations for 328 hours and 36 minutes (just shy of a fortnight) 290 deck landings... and 290 launches.


O be joyful


A WAVE and a smile from sailors aboard HMS Ocean – but loved ones had to


wait an extra day for this sight. Foul weather in the Western Approaches delayed the return of Britain’s largest warship – and the end of (arguably) the best deployment on the RN’s 2010 calendar: a four-and-half-month tour of the North and South Atlantic. And so on a Saturday, not Friday, and in autumn sunshine, not autumn rain, with the Band of HM Royal Marines providing the music and hundreds of family members providing the atmosphere, Ocean made her belated reappearance in Devonport. The 16,000-mile round trip began back on June 10 and saw the Mighty O take part in the Auriga 2010 amphibious/carrier strike exercises off the Eastern Seaboard, ‘pumping iron’ alongside US Navy task groups.


Caribbean followed, then beach landings with Brazilian marines near Rio (plus a visit to that great city); Nigerian independence 50th anniversary celebrations; security patrols in the Gulf of Guinea; a return to Sierra Leone ten years after Ocean was instrumental in putting an end to the civil war; a whistle-stop visit to the Cape Verde Islands; and fi nally a run ashore in Lisbon. In all, the helicopter assault ship has conducted fi ve amphibious exercises with the forces of fi ve nations, trained 300 sailors and marines from nine nations, hosted royals, two presidents, ministers from the UK and abroad, six international conferences, and dispatched its men and women to help community projects for impoverished youngsters in three countries. All in all, quite busy... The last signifi cant activity came off the 169th largest nation on earth (aka the Cape Verde Islands – ranked 147 places below the UK on the list of most populous countries). Six members of the islands’ Law Enforcement Detachment joined the helicopter carrier for the 800-mile passage from Sierra Leone to Cape Verde. They took part in boarding exercises with Ocean’s


sailors and Royal Marines... while the Cape Verdeans shared their knowledge of local waters, which proved invaluable for briefi ng 815 and 847 NAS Lynx on


Counter-drugs work in the


their patrols as they scoured the ocean looking at maritime traffi c. The two countries signed an agreement last


year to work together to fi ght drug traffi cking – an agreement which brought a recent success for HMS Gloucester and a Cape Verdean Coast Guard team, who jointly snared a yacht carrying £40m of cocaine in September.


Once closer to Cape Verde, the ship embarked the islands’ Fusiliers for exercises with 539 Assault Squadron Royal Marines, including a beach landing and some live weapons fi ring – watched by the islands’ Chief of Defence Staff, Col Fernando Carvalho Pereira.


asked to do in a year – in only fi ve months. I could not ask any more of my people – they have been fantastic and very professional. “Our ability to engage and work with other navies and maritime agencies worldwide, while building relationships with other nations, is an important element of developing trust. It contributes directly to the peace we can so easily take for granted.” Once alongside, Ocean will undergo essential maintenance following her Atlantic exertions. Longer term, her fate is uncertain with the Navy weighing whether she or HMS Illustrious, about to emerge from refi t in Rosyth, will be the nation’s on- call helicopter carrier. Until that decision is made, Capt Blount said it


was ‘business as usual’ for his ship’s company. “The future is uncertain about the ship, but


now we will be spending precious time together as a family,” said Sarah Dowse, waiting with children fi ve-year-old Imogen and Noah, just eight months for CPO Martin Dowse. “It was hectic with Martin being away with such


at the weekend, Ocean made a beeline for Devonport. “If you want to illustrate the sort of things navies can do for you, just take a look at what Ocean has been doing in the United States, in Brazil, Sierra Leone and Cape Verde,” said CO Capt Keith Blount. “In fact Ocean has packed in the full range of tasks a Royal Navy ship would perhaps be


After a chance to let hair down in Lisbon In total over seven weeks, Fort George was at


The school has a mock-up of a merchant ship in the form of the MV Cossack building (named for the WW2 destroyer which famously snared the German supply ship Altmark and gave the world the cry ‘The Navy’s here’). More recently the school’s been bolstered by the more realistic addition of Brecon (she also serves as a fl oating classroom and gives raw recruits a taste of life in a mess deck) with Raleigh staff and personnel playing the part of not-necessarily co-operative merchant crew. During their time at Raleigh, the Saints must be able to demonstrate their physical fi tness and weapon- handling skills before moving on to the act of boarding by boat and helicopter and conducting a thorough search, as well as questioning the crew – and maintaining order. As for HMS St Albans herself, she spent four days at West India Docks visiting the capital.


The ship hosted a reception, closing with Ceremonial Sunset performed by the Band of HM Royal Marines. CO Cdr Tom Sharpe paid offi cial calls ashore including to the Tower of London and Trinity House, while his ship’s company hosted VIPs, the public, cadets and affi liates, including the good folk of St Albans.


a young family. Imogen has been counting down until daddy’s arrival from 67 ‘sleeps’ ago. She wants to go to the beach with her daddy and to have a barbecue.” Hmmm. It’s not really the weather for that... Picture: LA(Phot) Guy Pool, HMS Ocean


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