VI
NAVY NEWS, PLYMOUTH SUPPLEMENT. MARCH 1997
Amphibious power base builds up in the West
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• An artist's impression of the new class of assault ship and (right) the Navy's current duo, HM ships Fearless and Intrepid, soldiering on after 30 years. Photograph: HMS Fearless
ROYAL NAVY if RUGBY UNION ROYAL NAVY versus
ARMY at Twickenham Saturday 12th April 1997
KO 3pm
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WE'LL BE STAYING IN DIVISION ONE' • O CASUAL observer could be blamed for thinking that while 'amphibiosiNyity' has been a Naval priority, it has conveyed more than a hint of being a •! Cinderella in the equipment stakes. The assault ships HMS Fearless and Intrepid, over 30 years old, have in recent years been the subject of much care and attention to maintain their front-line capability - and the Navy has not possesed a 'commando carrier' since the sale to India of HMS Hermes in 1986. However, any perception that the Navy's amphibious assets are over-aged is due to change dramatically with the fitting-out at Barrow-inFurness of the Service's first purpose-built helicopter assault ship - HMS Ocean and the building of the flat-top vessels HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark to replace Fearless and Intrepid. "Today amphibious warfare is truly a 'core capability', and as relevant as it always has been in the projection of power from the sea," said Commodore Amphibious Warfare, Commodore Paul Stone.
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He looks forward to the new ships all being in service within the next six years, and all being based at Devonport, close to his HQ alongside that of the Commander of 3 Commando Brigade at Storehouse Barracks. The grouping forms, said the Commodore, a West Country "amphibious centre of excellence". The ships will be members of the newly revived Amphibious Squadron, one of the results of a long and hard look at the management of AW to ensure, in Commodore Stone's words, "that the RN's current position in
League Division One is maintained and strengthened." The Navy used to have such a squadron, composed of tank landing craft and landing ships, until it was disbanded in 1%6. The revival is intended to develop the full potential of a well-trained, wellmanaged and well-equipped maritime expeditionary force.
RFA ships For training and deployments, the squadron will be augmented by the five Marchwood-based RFA landing ships, the aviation training ship RFA Argus from Portsmouth, and landing craft operated by the Army's Royal Logistic Corps. With the new Dutch assault ship Rotterdam, the force will form the UK and Netherlands Amphibious Task Group to be known by the somewhat tongue-twisting acronym UKNLPHIBGRU. Commodore Stone sees the restructuring of his command, introduction of the new ships and the formation of the Joint Rapid Deployment Force as opportunities to develop "the full potential of our amphibious expeditionary capability and to strengthen still further the credentials of the UK/Netherlands group as a force in being and a prime example of European co-operation." Reflecting the probable multi-
• Commodore Stone - commander of the Navy's new Amphibious Squadron. role and multi-national nature of any operational task he is likely to be given. Commodore Stone's small staff is not only tri-Service, but includes staff officers from the Netherlands and the USA. He said: "This approach is particularly relevant today where the ability to deal with an ever widening diversity of potential contingencies, almost certainly in concert with allies, appears the hallmark of the age. Practising the amphibious art is complex and demanding, but it is also professionally highly rewarding."
• Royal Marines Commandos from HMS Fearless reach shore during an amphibious warfare exercise. Picture: HMS Fearless Photographic Section.