8 NAVY NEWS, DECEMBER 2010
Faslane highlights safety
MINISTRY of Defence Police at Clyde Naval Base have been gearing up to play their part in National Road Safety Week. As Navy News went to press
the police at Faslane were due to be holding enforcement and education initiatives aimed at raising awareness of safe motoring. The carrot and stick approach will include speed and vehicle checks in the base, and a crackdown on use of mobile phones, and failing to wear a seatbelt, while driving, as well as the offer of safety advice. PC Tracy Ross said: “The
objective of the week is to promote safe driving and to make drivers aware of their responsibilities towards their vehicles and other road users, including cyclists and pedestrians.” As well as various points around the base, checks will also be carried out in access roads to the base and at Service family accommodation areas in Helensburgh. The MOD Police will be in
working partnership Strathclyde Police, the Vehicle
Operator Services Agency (VOSA) and Argyll and Bute Council. Police at Faslane regularly hold
such events– the last, in June, saw a day of checks on HGVs, vans and trailers entering the base. On that occasion, in just one three-hour period, three drivers were given a ‘delayed prohibition’ ordering them to take their vehicles to a garage, while another five
received prohibition’ an ‘immediate which saw their
vehicles taken off the road straight away because of safety fears.
Merlins at BUTEC
A DETACHMENT of Royal Navy aircrew and engineers have
spent a week testing the
Merlin helicopter’s sensors and weapons in Scotland to bring them up to speed for operational requirements.
The team of 20, led by Lt Cdr Iain Macfarlane, are the Merlin HM1 Operational Evaluation Unit, part of Culdrose-based 824 Naval Air Squadron. During the week on the British Underwater Test and Evaluation Centre
(BUTEC) near
Fearless Kate ‘is an inspiration to us all’
CELEBRATED Royal Navy medic Kate Nesbitt has been presented with a high-profile magazine award for bravery – by the soldier whose life she
saved under fire. LMA Nesbitt, 22, won the
Ultimate Fearless Female category of the Cosmopolitan Ultimate Women of the Year Awards, which were handed out at a celebrity- stuffed ceremony at Banqueting House in London. Kate, who currently works
at the MOD Hospital Unit at Derriford in Plymouth, was on patrol in Afghanistan in March 2009 when an ambush was carried out and a man was reported as having been hit. L/Cpl Jonathan List, of 1st
with
Battalion, the Rifles – part of 3 Commando Brigade – had been shot in the left side of his face, and the bullet had ricocheted out of the side of his neck. Kate was told to wait until it
was safe to attend to him, but she decided to go to Jon’s aid immediately, racing 60 metres under fire to get to the injured soldier, who was struggling to breathe through blood and a smashed jaw. As a Royal Marine supported the injured man’s head, Kate opened Jon’s airway with a tube and treated him with intravenous fluids, staying by his side for more
● Kate Nesbitt with L/Cpl Jon List (right) and actor/TV and radio personality Reggie Yates
Picture: Cosmopolitan
than half an hour to stabilise him as bullets flew around them. When the ambush finally ended,
Jon was flown out by helicopter and Kate continued the patrol with the rest of her team. The acting leading hand was honoured with the Military Cross for “exemplary gallantry during active operations against the enemy”, becoming the second female member of
the Armed
Forces, and the first from the Royal Navy, to receive the award. Kate was handed the award
by Jon – whose baby daughter bears the middle name Kate in her honour – watched by celebrities from television, radio, music and sport, including fellow award-winners Christine Bleakley (Ultimate TV Presenter), Fearne Cotton (presenter, judge and Ultimate Celebrity Who Made Us Care) and Nicola Roberts (Ultimate Fashionista). Kate said: “It was a fantastic
evening, but I felt really nervous. “There were some really glam
girls there.” Cosmopolitan editor Louise
Court said: “Kate is an inspiration to us all, and her dedication to the Royal Navy, her colleagues, and the public is simply astonishing. “This
year’s awards have
once again provided us with an opportunity to honour some of the nation’s most inspirational women. “It’s amazing to be able to meet people like Kate, and celebrate their personal achievements as well as the positive impact they have had on others.”
Matt realises his Street value
A HIGHLY-decorated Royal Marine has been given a unique honour in his home village. WO1 Matt Tomlinson has been
granted the Freedom of Street in Somerset – the first honorary freeman of the area.
Hundreds of residents lined the Skye
several trials were carried out, including simulated Stingray torpedo attacks. Trials data will be analysed by
the Maritime Warfare Centre, who use it to formulate cutting-edge tactical advice. Flight observer Lt Lauren Hulston said: “Rigorously testing the Merlin’s systems and weapons ensures that the crews are ready for whatever operational tasking we may be given. “Trials like this are essential for us to maintain our readiness.”
pavements to cheer and wave flags as the Royal and his family were carried in a 1916 La France open- topped car on a parade through the village, led by a marching band. WO Tomlinson,
who has
been awarded the Conspicuous Gallantry Cross and the Military Cross in the past four years, then attended a ceremony at a local school where he was presented with a scroll of the freedom of Street by parish council leader Brian Beha.
Cllr Beha said: “We all enjoy
our freedom here, but we are all aware that freedom isn’t free – it is bought for us by the people who are willing to fight for it.” In his acceptance speech the senior NCO paid tribute to his colleagues from 40 Cdo RM, saying: “I ask that you join me in welcoming them home, and that you remember everything they’ve done, remember their injured and never forget the fallen.” The commando, based at 1 Assault Group RM at Devonport, said: “The day was fantastic – a real honour to be granted the status in a town where I grew up from the age of two until I joined the Corps.
“About 300 people lined the High Street to witness the event, and the same amount attended the ceremony at Elmhurst School. “At the school a presentation
was delivered by the school’s Year Five children about my life in Street and my career in the Corps.
portions of my citations for the CGC and MC. “It was a really great day and an
opportunity to thank the people of Street for their support to myself and the wider Armed Forces. “A collection was
for the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity which raised
also made “The parish councillor read
approximately £400.” WO Tomlinson was awarded the Military Cross by the Prince of Wales at Buckingham Palace earlier this year. He won the medal during a tour of duty in Afghanistan when, as a member of 3 Commando Brigade, he braved grenades and gunfire to rescue an injured soldier and to recover the body of another colleague killed by an explosion. The Conspicuous Gallantry Cross was awarded for bravery in Iraq in 2006, when his actions under fire saved the lives of the 16-strong US Marine Corps assault force he was commanding.
Glamorgan memorial shipped out
A CONSIGNMENT of granite has reached the Falkland Islands, ready to be transformed into a memorial for the men who died aboard the conflict’s ship’.
‘forgotten
County-class destroyer HMS Glamorgan was withdrawing from the gunline off the Two Sisters ridge, having bombarded enemy positions in support of the British advance on Stanley, on June 12 1982 when the Argentines fired an Exocet from a makeshift launcher ashore.
Glamorgan took evasive action, minimising the effect of the strike near the hangar, but the ship still took considerable damage, and 14 sailors died in the explosion and fire.
The ship was saved, but with the Argentine surrender just 48 hours later the incident was somewhat overshadowed. Now former navigator Ian dream
Inskip’s
memorial to the ship and crew is nearing reality. Foundations have been laid at
reading the inscription a visitor will be looking in the direction where, 19 miles out to sea, the destroyer was hit. The memorial bears the names of the 14 victims of the attack, who are also represented by 14 round granite setts set in amongst square blocks for the ship’s company. Once finished, the memorial will be covered until its dedication in February, when it is hoped around 40 members of the ship’s company and families will be able to attend.
www.hmsglamorgan.co.uk
Training is quickly put into practice
A JOINT training exercise became a joint rescue when Royal Marines and lifeboat crew were asked to help a vessel in distress. The Royals were on board a Dutch Navy Combat Boat for the exercise with the crew of the Dart Inshore Lifeboat when an 11m motor yacht en route from Portugal to Portsmouth suffered a mechanical failure out to sea and began to take on water. The two crew decided to head for Dartmouth under sail and asked for assistance to enter the harbour. The Swedish-built CB912 is on extended trials with Dutch Navy and Royal Marines, and it was a simple job to tow the stricken yacht on a long line to the harbour mouth, when the Dart
lifeboat
took over. The exercise was held under the supervision of Lt Col Bob MacDonald RM, the two-man Dutch crew being Sgt Dennis Meijer and Sgt Robert Bits Jongsma.
Lt Col MacDonald said: “It
was a pleasure and a privilege to train with the RNLI, and a great benefit to all to be involved in a real call-out as well. It certainly made our day.”
CB912 is one of two Swedish CB90 boats on long-term operational trials with the Swedish, Dutch and British marines. The loan craft have been
● WO1 Matt Tomlinson, his wife Sharon and children Harvey (7), Ellis (14) and Daniel Brian (5) are carried through Street in an open-topped World War 1 era car
converted to be carried in the davits on both Dutch and British amphibious ships, and the trials will continue into next year.
that after of erecting
Hookers Point in such a way that the main Welsh granite memorial is set square on a bearing of 210° true, which means
a
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