NAVY NEWS, FEBRUARY 2011


5


tmas presence


Qatari officers discussed the war games with the Chid team before receiving a tour of the ship.


Although this was a working visit, there was time for the ship’s company to explore Doha and everything it has to offer. The Museum of Islamic Arts and souq market proved popular destinations for the Chids, who also witnessed Qatari National Day celebrations on December 18; the latter reached a stunning fi nale with a spectacular lighting and fountain display in Doha Bay. A carefully- selected team of sailors trotted out on the turf of Doha Rugby Football Club for a clash with an expat side.


De re


D fin e n ligi e


Chid’s players varied from old hands to rugby virgins – so the 12-12 fi nal result (including a ‘man of the match’ gong for AB(D) ‘Dolly’ Parton) was particularly satisfying, not least as the previous RN visitors to Doha had been trounced by the locals... Back in Bahrain Chiddingfold and Grimsby played host to a succession of VIPs from senior US offi cers to representatives from Canada’s upper house, the Senate, led by its Speaker, Noel Kinsella. The latter group was keen to learn about the international naval effort east of Suez – and about the RN’s minehunting capability and its Seafox robot submersibles in particular. The 100 (ish) sailors aboard Chiddingfold and Grimsby comprised 1/13th of Royal Navy and Royal Marines personnel on duty east of Suez (we’re discounting Afghanistan here...) as 2010 came to an end – in excess of 1,300 men and women in all.


The experience of


ONE quarter of them could be found aboard the good ship Cumberland, which was accompanying France’s flagship Charles de Gaulle while most of us were still sleeping off Christmas excesses.


Cumberland was at sea on December 25, but it didn’t stop traditional festive fare on board. Santa (who bore an uncanny resemblance to Executive Warrant Officer WO1 Johnny Lambert) still clambered down the funnel in company with his assistants (again Doppelgängers, this time for CPO(SC) Ali James and LPT Johnny Logan) and offi cers served ratings when it came to turkey, spuds, sprouts (the devil’s vegetable) and all the trimmings.


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All of which was but a distant memory by the morning of Boxing Day as the Type 22 frigate shepherded the 40,000- tonne carrier (or should that be porte-avions) through the Strait of Hormuz, the choke point at the entrance to/exit of the Gulf.


Over Christmas the de Gaulle was conducting air operations over Afghanistan from the Indian Ocean – as good an example of the potential of carrier strike as you’ll find these days – with the Mighty Sausage (or is it the Fighting Sausage – we’re never quite sure) as her chaperone. We last caught up with Cumberland in the emirate of Ras al Khaimah – about 50 miles along the coast from Dubai – hosting guest of honour Sheikh Saud bin Saqr al Qasimi. What we didn’t tell you was that it was one of the fi rst offi cial functions for the sheikh, whose country had just emerged from offi cial mourning following the


death of his father – at 92 the oldest and longest-serving monarch in the world.


monarchs... 130 miles to the south lies Abu Dhabi, where the Fighting Sausage could also be found in support of royal events.


Her sailors were on hand at various events involving the state visit of the Queen, Duke of Edinburgh and Duke of York. Cumberland’ s appearance in Abu Dhabi wasn’t purely cosmetic, however; she took part in Air Khandjar – an air- sea exercise with the RAF and the Emirati Air Force.


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she’s a victim of the Strategic Defence and Security Review (ironically the ship’s company learned Cumberland’s fate the day the frigate entered the operational theatre).


“While it is a great sadness for the Navy to lose Cumberland, we’ve been determined to make her last deployment a fi tting end to the ship’s distinguished history,” said Capt Steve Dainton, the 22’s fi nal Commanding Offi cer.


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“She deserves a proud place in the history of the Navy.


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“The events with which we will mark her passing when we get back to UK will be poignant, but also a celebration of a truly great ship.”


Come the end of April there will no longer be any 22s on active service with Her Majesty’s Navy, closing a 30-year chapter of RN history. But it’s not quite time to finish the chapter yet.


CUMBERLAND’S six-month tour at t


stretching back to the end of the 1980s. Like her three sisters,


e


This is F85’s fi nal tour of duty in a career


And talking of long-serving


of duty is showing just how much the Gulf mission has evolved in the past few years.


No longer is it week upon week stooging around Iraq’s two oil platforms.


Indeed, these days Iraq’s sailors and marines carry out four-fifths of the protection mission for the Khawr al Amaya and Al Basrah terminals... ...and even a basic understanding of percentages tells you that there’s still a job for Allied naval forces to carry out.


impressive shot of two US Coast Guard vessels preparing to pass in front of ABOT – as anyone who’s served out here calls the Al Basrah platform – watched by HMS Cumberland and the American Arleigh Burke destroyer USS O’Kane.


Ma Br s


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a Hence the rather territorial waters.


Then it was on to the USS O’Kane off the Al Basrah platform to see the work done to safeguard this linchpin in Iraq’s economy.


ABOT is the newer of two terminals off the Al Faw peninsula which disgorges upwards of three million barrels of oil a day into waiting tankers.


of Combined Task Force Iraqi Maritime.


The little photo opportunity for the forces of the RN-led Combined Task Force Iraqi Maritime was staged as Britain’s second-most senior admiral visited the Gulf to thank sailors and marines for their continued service over the festive period. The Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary currently have a dozen warships, survey vessels and auxiliaries deployed in


the region, plus personnel at Umm Qasr, Bahrain and on the Iraqi oil platforms. Admiral Sir Trevor Soar, Commander-in-Chief Fleet, paid his second visit of the year to the region, beginning his whistle- stop tour in Umm Qasr, home of the Iraqi Navy – and the joint UK/ US team training its personnel. The admiral toured the base and stepped aboard one of Iraq’s new Swift-class patrol craft, the fi rst of several boats which will eventually take full responsibility for protecting Iraqi


and a w g


great progress and now has responsibility for some 80 per cent of all Iraqi territorial waters. I am delighted that Admiral Soar was able to see for himself the substantial contribution that personnel from the Royal Navy are making toward this achievement,” said Cdre Tony Radakin, commander


“The Iraqi Navy is making


Next stop for the admiral was Cumberland and a chance to chat with each of the ship’s departments, plus the T22’s Royal Marines boarding team.


is directed from Bahrain, the hub of Allied naval efforts in the region. It’s home to the US Fifth Fleet headquarters and, in its grounds, the UK Maritime Component Command. It’s from here that RN and RM personnel choreograph the movements of vessels across 2½ million square miles of water east of Suez.


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n Cumberland’s mission


UKMCC centre is Mina Salman, home to the four aforementioned minehunters, a team of engineers from the Fleet Support Unit, and RFA Lyme Bay which acts as the afl oat headquarters for the Commander UK Mine Countermeasures Forces. The fi nal leg of C-in-C Fleet’s visit was in the United Arab Emirates, where he visited survey ship HMS Enterprise, tanker RFA Bayleaf, which provides fuel to Allied warships in the region, RFA Fort Victoria, in port after a sustained – and successful – period hunting pirates in the Somali Basin. “As people in Britain were enjoying their Christmas meal, I hope they spared a thought for the sailors, Royal Marines and support staff in the Gulf who were working for their interests over the festive period – as they do 365 days a year – in support of maritime security and freedom of the seas,” said Admiral Soar. “The Arabian Gulf contains some of the world’s most important shipping lanes and energy related infrastructure. Stability and security in this region is directly connected to the UK’s own wellbeing, as well as that of the international community.” Cdre Tim Fraser, UK Maritime Component Commander added: “Alongside the nuclear


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In addition, Admiral Soar also had time with a handful of Royal Navy personnel who occupy positions in the staff of Bahrain-based Combined Maritime Forces, a 25-nation naval partnership committed to maritime security in the Middle East through anti-piracy and counter-terrorism operations. A few minutes’ drive from the


“This is the second occasion in six months that Admiral Soar has visited us. I know the continuing attention and priority which he attaches to our work is greatly appreciated by the Royal Navy ships and personnel in this region.” ■ Cardigan Bay brings the curtain down on Gulf training mission, page 6


deterrent and our efforts in Afghanistan, the Middle East maritime domain is surely one of our most important defence priorities.


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