NAVY NEWS, MARCH 2011


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THE ducks in question being (furthest from the camera to nearest) Her Majesty’s Ships Tyne, Mersey and Severn – better known collectively as the Fishery Protection Squadron.


Each of the River- class ships is at sea more than 200 days a year... but only on a solitary day can the three sisters be found together. So time to


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get the cameras out. And the


killer tomato. And the bosses (that’s the CO of the squadron, Cdr Ian Lynn, and the Captain Mine Warfare, Fishery Protection and Diving, Capt Mark Durkin).


hCO f h


The squadron is the oldest unit in the Royal Navy (its history can be traced back to 1379 and an armed trawler which safeguarded the fishing vessels of Yarmouth). These days it’s the fish, not the fishermen requiring the protection of the Royal Navy: the three River-class ships were at sea on fishery protection duties for 675 days last year. Their boarding parties inspected 1,300 vessels, detained 13 and ensured that fishermen who committed serious transgressions of the law received fines totalling some £90,000.


For one day, the fish were put aside, however, as the three vessels headed into the Solent for a ‘squadex’ – Squadron Exercise – in ‘challenging’ weather (ie rather lumpy) to test their ability to work together, rather than independently.


That meant some flying serials involving a Lynx from Yeovilton (the ships have winching decks large enough for someone to be lifted on or off by helicopter, but the aircraft themselves are too large to set down) in a Force 7 near gale – with the ships only 100 yards apart at times, some officer of the watch manoeuvres and for the gunners some, er, gunnery.


more a case of ‘chasery’ as the wind carried the killer tomato inflatable target scurrying across the sea at a fair rate of knots... with the three ships chasing after it, opening fire while trying to maintain a safe distance from merchantmen who make heavy use of the Solent and Isle of Wight waters. All good practice... The three-ship workout was the last day at sea as Mersey’s CO for Lt Cdr Carl Wiseman. He’s now 10,000 miles away in charge of the trio’s souped- up sister (bigger guns, more surveillance kit, flight deck) HMS Clyde in the Falklands. Before going, he and his deputy and boarding officer joined their counterparts from Severn and Tyne attended a conference to discuss the latest issues in the fishery protection world with experts from the Marine Management Organisation, the government department which oversees fishing quotas.


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While the cats were away, the mice were playing as squadron personnel held a sports day to earn bragging rights until next January (see our sports pages to see who won).


Gunnery actually became y


Exhausted by discussions, bucket ball and five-a-side, the sailors let their hair down at the annual ‘fish ball’ in the Royal Beach Hotel in Southsea, alongside MMO staff and employees from BAE Systems – the defence firm which loans the River-class vessels to the Navy and maintains them on behalf of the Senior Service.


Pictures: LA(Phots) Kyle Heller and Gaz Weatherston


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