NOT YOUR 9 TO 5
Not your
nine to five H
UNTING Somali pi- rates, launching a
- - The Oban man is responsible for the day-to-day running of the RFA Fort Victoria. its role in NATO’s Operation Shield, a four-month patrol of the Indian Ocean to combat rising levels of piracy in the area.
It is a far cry from the peaceful lifestyle Duncan prefers when he is home from duty, ski-ing
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at Aonach Mor, playing a few rounds of golf at Glencruitten or tending to his garden. The RFA is made up of civil- ians, employed by the Ministry ‘guard ships’ for areas such as the Falklands, Caribbean, Middle East or home waters. This frees up Royal Navy war- ships to operate elsewhere. But as Duncan pointed out, RFA Fort Victoria is no shrink- ing violet. The merchant ship carries a frighteningly impres- sive arsenal: Two Phalanx (20mm multi-barrelled guns rounds a minute), 20mm can- ons, MK 44 mini guns, plus
‘general purpose’ machine guns – not to mention self protection measures for mis- siles and torpedoes. ‘We may be civilian merchant seafarers but we are more than capable of looking after ourselves,’ Duncan, an inter- national clay pigeon shooter, told West Coast Review. ‘We also carry specialised boarding teams that are able to board a vessel, even if that vessel is ‘non compliant’. The more forceful side to RFA Fort Victoria was clearly evi- dent during Operation Shield. Duncan exlpained: ‘The Italian ship MV Montecristo was at- tacked by suspected pirates
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