2 NAVY NEWS, SEPTEMBER 2011


3 CDO BDE/845 NAS/846 NAS/ 847 NAS/854 NAS/FDG/1710 NAS


HMS Sabre/Scimitar


HMS Dauntless RFA Wave Ruler 206 Flight


HMS Bangor HMS Liverpool HMS Ocean RFA Fort Rosalie


HMS Monmouth FASLANE ROSYTH HMS Gannet HMS Clyde YEOVILTON DEVONPORT


CULDROSE 771 NAS


PORTSMOUTH HMS Bulwark Satellite imagery courtesy of NASA Fleet Focus AS IT was when the crisis engulfed Libya, the Royal Navy


gave as good as she got. So too did HMS Ocean, whose Apaches launched a succession of strikes against military targets – sometimes deep inside Libya – while minehunter HMS Bangor kept the sea lanes to Misrata open (see the centre pages). As for other conflict involving the nation’s armed forces, 3 Commando Brigade is in the latter stages of its six-month tour of duty in Afghanistan with its Commanding Officer pleased with the progress made (see pages 14-15). Again, sadly, the mission in Helmand has demanded the ultimate sacrifice from one Royal Marine (see page 6). Having passed the 1,000-mission milestone in Afghanistan


duties temporarily to stage a ‘last night of the proms’ for the benefit of personnel at Camp Bastion (see pages 14-15). In addition to performing in Bastion, the Band of HM


the traditional summer break: flagship HMS Albion brought the curtain down on the Cougar 11 deployment, arriving in Devonport at the same time as her trusted escort HMS Sutherland. It also brings to an end the crucial role played by reservists on the deployment (see page 20). There was a double return, too, in Portsmouth with HMS Iron


Duke following HMS Richmond into harbour after deployments to the Gulf and Far East respectively. And HM Ships Chiddingfold and Grimsby completed their 6,500-mile trek home from the Gulf, Cheery Chid in Pompey, the ‘boar warship’ in Faslane (see pages 4-5).


a pirate attack on a large cargo ship in the Red Sea and has also been exercising with the Kenyan Navy (see opposite). Also east of Suez, HMS St Albans took part in an anti- submarine warfare exercise with HMS Turbulent before moving into the Gulf to protect the region’s oil and gas platforms (see page 22). There has been a flurry of ships returning home in time for


Royal Marines could be found in more familiar surroundings, participating in the Edinburgh Royal Military Tattoo, where sailors from HMS Montrose and green berets from 45 Commando staged a counter-piracy demonstration in front of more than 200,000 people (see page 13). From faux pirates to real ones. HMS Monmouth helped thwart


last month, the Bagger community has continued to ‘surprise everyone’, not least the insurgents, with another drugs haul snared courtesy of the 854 NAS ‘eyes in the sky’ (see right). On a lighter note, Royal Marines musicians gave up driving


off the coast of the Libyan capital, helping a refugee ship and supporting the wider NATO mission. The destroyer was engaged by government batteries – and


was in the right of the line as the Gaddafi regime crumbled. As rebel fighters moved into Tripoli, HMS Liverpool was


HMS Edinburgh RFA Black Rover


Plus one ballistic missile submarine on patrol somewhere beneath the Seven Seas


HMS St Albans HMS Turbulent HMS Echo HMS Quorn HMS Middleton HMS Pembroke HMS Ramsey RFA Fort Victoria RFA Diligence RFA Lyme Bay


Naval Party 1022


More for your bust


Marines. It’s another blow dealt to the insurgents’ drug trade in southern Afghanistan which falls foul almost every week of the Royal Navy’s ‘eyes in the sky’, the ‘Baggers’. Some 540kg of wet and dry opium, used to


THIS is the explosive end of a pick-up truck used by drug-runners in Helmand – spotted by naval aviators and blown up by US


produce cocaine, with a street value of £6m were seized – and subsequently destroyed – by ground troops thanks to intelligence fed them by 854 Naval Air Squadron and its Airborne Surveillance and Control Sea Kings. The illegal drugs trade is a mainstay of insurgent activity in Afghanistan, but the movements of narcotics around the south of the country is monitored by Allied surveillance – not least the Baggers, as the distinctive Sea Kings are known throughout the Royal Navy. Since this bust yet more drugs have been captured following tip-offs from Bagger crews – some 800kg – plus an impressive haul of insurgent arms: more than six tons of explosives, hundreds of weapons and radios being seized. “Both the US Marine Corps and British forces continue to demand our capabilities to strangle insurgent supply routes,” said 854’s Commanding Officer Lt Cdr Paul Harrison.


“The Airborne Surveillance and Control Sea King continues to surprise everyone, including the most experienced operators, with its long range detections providing surveillance over massive areas of Afghanistan.” His squadron takes it in turns with Culdrose sister unit 857 Naval Air Squadron to patrol Afghan skies; between them the two Cornish squadrons have clocked up more than 1,000 missions over Helmand.


by two Royal Marines specialist landing craft units – 539 Assault Squadron and 10 (Landing Craft) Training Squadron – which are relocating to a new £25m complex in the yard (see page 6). And finally... The largest completed section yet of HMS Queen Elizabeth has been transported to Rosyth to join the rest of the carrier (see page 7). Key to the ship’s success, aside from the 10,000 people working on her construction, is the assistance of the US Navy which will help train both air and deck crew (see page 23).


she slipped out of Plymouth at the start of a six-month stint in the Gulf region (see page 5). HMS Bulwark has been gearing up to take over as the nation’s amphibious flagship this autumn by conducting extensive training off the South Coast (see page 6). The assault ship will soon be joined in Devonport Naval Base


Amid all the euphoria there were tears for HMS Somerset as


to provide ‘ground target moving indication’ to Camp Bastion’s force protection teams – namely details of any suspicious movements towards the base. Bastion, outside the Helmand capital of Lashkar Gah, is the key British base in Afghanistan. It’s from here that the Royal Marines of 3 Commando Brigade are directing the latest six-month peacekeeping and counter-insurgency mission, Operation Herrick 14, and there’s also a sizeable US military presence at Bastion. By carrying out sweeps around the camp, the 854 NAS helicopters have fed “a live picture of activity on the ground below the aircraft and for miles beyond” to both troops and also a large number of aircraft patrolling Afghan skies. A clutch of senior naval figures – Commander-in-Chief Fleet Admiral Sir Trevor Soar, Second Sea Lord Vice Admiral Charles Montgomery, Commandant General Royal Marines Maj Gen Buster Howes and the Chaplain of the Fleet the Rev Scott Brown – visited 854 at Bastion to witness the work of the Baggers first-hand and thank them for their efforts.


navy news  www.navynews.co.uk  NEWSDESK 023 9272 4163  ADVERTISING 023 9272 5062  BUSINESS 023 9272 0494 For the first time the helicopters have also been used


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