34 NAVY NEWS, JUNE 2010
Prizewinner travels to Australia
A ROYAL Marine captain has become the first winner of the prestigious Naval Review Centenary Fellowship. Capt Leon Marshall, 30, Landing Craft Officer in HMS Albion, won the competition with his title for a research paper comparing the Royal Australian Navy’s amphibious capabilities with the RN’s. He has now gone to Australia where he will spend six weeks studying the Australian Navy’s amphibious forces in order to write his paper. Leon said: “I presented a one- page essay proposal comparing the Australian Navy’s planned amphibious ships with our Navy’s amphibious force structure and focus.
“It is a subject that has interested me for a long time and I’m delighted to have this opportunity to get out there and see what the Australians are doing.”
The Naval Review Centenary
Fellowship Award was created to celebrate the forthcoming centenary of that other great Naval
publication The Naval Review,
which was founded in 1913. Its editor, Vice Admiral Sir
Jeremy Blackham, said: “The Naval Review is delighted to promote this Fellowship. “Strengthening ties with the
Royal Australian Navy has been an aspiration for a long time, and the RAN have been extremely generous in the support they’re giving.”
He added: “We have been
very fortunate in obtaining generous sponsorship from Ultra Electronics, who have agreed to support sending a junior officer to Australia every year for the next five years, on a six-week secondment.” The Naval Review Centenary
Fellowship is endorsed by the First Sea Lord and is open to all junior officers, who must submit a title for a research paper based on a topic of current debate within the naval community. The competition is judged by a panel
representing The Naval Review.
In addition, membership of The
Naval Review is being opened to warrant officers for the first time and a cash prize is being offered for the best article by a warrant officer from 2011. Details and membership
enquiries from
www.naval-
review.co.uk
Millionth visitor
THE National Memorial Arboretum was expecting to welcome its millionth visitor as Navy News went to press. In the five years after it opened in 2001 annual visitor numbers were below 70,000, but since the dedication of the Armed Forces Memorial in 2007 that figure has risen to 300,000 per annum. The Arboretum, in Staffordshire, also boasts a new-look website at
www.thenma.org.uk
Regulations enter a BRave new world
REGULATIONS, processes;
policies, the tools that shape Navy life from before
enlistment to after leaving.
Codified over decades in Books of Reference (BRs), the Naval Service – like its sister Services – relies on the corporate knowledge that resides in myriad volumes, constantly updated to keep pace with legislation and the world at large.
But therein lies the problem. Despite the best efforts of those
involved, updates do not always end up in the right place, or published in the right format. What might on one occasion
be a BR update might on another be an RNTM (temporary memorandum) or DIN (Defence Instruction and Notice).
The BRs are still the fount of all knowledge – it’s just that knowledge has in some cases become disjointed, dislocated and hard to find.
But after BR evolution comes
revolution, under the rather bland title BR3 – Naval Personnel Management.
Bland though the name might
be, the concept is far from it. Cdr Peter Hughes has been
tasked by the Second Sea Lord to push through a radical overhaul of the Navy’s human resources publications, and the result is an electronic, all-encompassing single reference point which is accessible to all – inside and outside the Navy.
BR3 already exists (in its third edition), but in embryonic form, covering 2SL’s organisation, instructions on creating and amending Establishment Lists (the
old, pre-JPA Scheme of
Complements), how personnel planning works, and how Captain Naval Recruiting manages the recruiting process. Now, with the format and processes tested and proven, BR3 can really start to take shape.
The next edition – scheduled for next month – will see many more chapters added; Life Management (covering discipline, the Divisional system, welfare, accommodation, medical, sport,
religion, equality
and diversity and charities); Naval uniform regulations; career structures; and promotion regulations will all appear. A key element of the project has been making the whole caboodle accessible to everyone, Regular, Reservist, ex-Service,
family or
just an interested Joe Public. So not only will BR3 be issued
to every unit on the Fleet Bridge Card by CD – and you would struggle to find a ship that carries all that information in the old paper format, let alone up-to-date versions – it will also be posted on the Defence Intranet Library and publicly on the internet, through the Royal Navy website. The publication of the new BR3 will see the demise of around 20 existing books, including BR1992, BR81, BR14, BR1066, ensuring that everyone has access to the same, up-to-date and fully-linked resource.
And as further revisions are
made, there will be a chance to add yet more material and to address the language and tone of the information, making it more user-friendly than was possible in the past.
As Cdr Hughes explained,
many of the BRs were created by and for human resource experts to help manage people’s careers and work, and the ease of use varied. “Some of the BRs have been
fine, and I have just been able to lift the text and reformat it and put it into the correct style,” said Cdr Hughes.
“But some other BRs were designed for people who managed, not the customers, so a career manager could use it but the customer didn’t know what was in it.
“There was also a lot of
Fair view of Caledonia
HMS Caledonia will be inviting members of the public into the Rosyth
establishment when it
stages its biannual summer fair on Sunday June 20.
The 2010 Summer Fair will
give people a chance to see what the Royal Navy is all about – and will raise money for the Children’s Hospice Association Scotland (CHAS),
Mary Foundation, RNA,
Leishman Scottish
Residence Association, Combat Stress and the Sea Cadets, whose regional training centre is sited at Caledonia. The Navy hopes to welcome 5,000 people on board for the
family fun day. £5 for
The cost on the day will be adults, £3 for
children
and concessions, £12 for a family ticket (two adults and two children or one adult and three children). Babcock has kindly offered to
provide parking on the day in Rosyth Royal Dockyard, where buses will ferry people to the main gate.
Disabled parking will also be
available. The gates to the base will open
at 1100 and the day will close with a performance by the Royal Marines Band at 1600; the gates will close at 1700.
● Lt Steve Codling (foreground) with BR3; behind him is Cdr Peter Hughes, struggling under the weight of superseded books
Picture: LA(Phot) Kaz Williams
duplication and unnecessary background material. “So BR3 will pull it all together,
rationalising it and bringing it bang up to date – every subject matter expert has staffed his or her own bit, and it is being built in as
friendly a style as any electronic book can be. “The current BRs still exist,
and are still the authority in many cases, but very soon BR3 will become the main reference book for personnel policies.”
Time for tea at dockyard
THE National Museum of the Royal Navy is welcoming veterans of all ages to mark Armed Forces Day, and this year they are promising a bigger and better event than last year. On Saturday June 26, between 2pm and 4.30pm, the Victory Arena in Portsmouth Historic Dockyard will be transformed into a 1940s-style street party, complete with wartime tea. To the sound of swing music, the more adventurous visitors can try rationing favourites such as eggless fruit cake, mock crab sandwiches and curried
corned
beef balls, with plenty of tea. Cookery demonstrations will
show how wartime families made the most of their rations. Charities such as the Red Cross and the National Gulf Veterans and Families Association will be at the event to offer advice and information, and museum curators will be on hand to help visitors discover more about the history of the Royal Navy. Entry to the event is free, as
is entry to the museum’s 20th Century Gallery.
Undervalued?
A SURVEY by Forces Cars Direct suggests that 80 per cent of people questioned believe that members of the Armed Forces do not receive the recognition they deserve from the British public. The survey also reports
almost nine out of ten people believe a bank holiday dedicated to the Forces would be a fitting tribute to those who have died in recent conflicts, and help raise awareness of the work of the military.
Manchester claims effi ciency pennant
DESTROYER HMS Manchester was due to leave Portsmouth for a seven-month deployment to the Caribbean as Navy News went to press.
She sails from her home
port with a tangible sign of her capability – and some of her sailors leave with the cheers of almost 90,000 people still ringing in their ears. The veteran warship will to
expect carry out counter-
narcotics operations, and is also prepared to lend a hand in case of humanitarian disaster – her deployment to the region coincides with the hurricane season. Her presence in the Northern Atlantic, close to a number of UK overseas territories, Commonwealth nations,
and friendly will also provide
reassurance and a deterrent to any potential aggressors. As she goes about her business Manchester can fly a distinctive flag – the Surface Flotilla Above Water Warfare and Destroyer Efficiency Awards for 2009, rather neatly summarised as the Efficiency Pennant. The
flag was
Rear Rear
● THE Commander-in-Chief Fleet, Admiral Sir Trevor Soar, took the opportunity to thank some of the men and women who work for him at a commendation ceremony at Northwood Headquarters. The presentation ceremony itself was followed by a reception for recipients and their families at Admiralty House (pictured above). The awards included several honours for conspicuous service on active operations, as well as the Commander-in-Chief’s own commendations
Picture: PO(Phot) Terry Seward
presented by Admiral Surface Ships,
Admiral Chris Snow, to the Commanding Officer of Manchester, Cdr Rex Cox,
in
Portsmouth as the destroyer completed a pre-deployment maintenance period. Another flag, a good deal larger,
was the concern of a number of personnel from the ship on FA Cup Final day.
● Rear Admiral Chris Snow, Rear Admiral Surface Ships (left) hands the Effi ciency Pennant to Cdr Rex Cox, Commanding Offi cer of HMS Manchester
The 44 sailors and Royals
were responsible for unfurling the Pompey banner, which stretched more than 70 metres across the Wembley pitch, before the game. Army personnel performed the same task with the Chelsea banner. Cheering them on were almost 90,000 people in the stands and a live TV audience of hundreds of millions around the world. Job done, the military personnel
then sat back to enjoy an enthralling match, which Chelsea won 1-0
(more’s the pity – Pompey fan Ed).
As
his preparations,
sailors made Cdr
Cox
“HMS Manchester is deploying to the Caribbean region to work as part of a multinational maritime counter-narcotics task force. “My ship’s
company have
been well trained to conduct this counter-narcotics tasking and are also fully prepared to react as required to any contingent disaster relief operation and to support the UK overseas territories.”
final said:
that
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