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NAVY NEWS, SEPTEMBER 1998
Hurworth and NATO companions show their skills along US eastern seaboard
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• Small ship, big city - HMS Hurworth leaves New York on her homeward journey to the UK via Newfoundland, where PO(MEM) Nigel King got to meet one of the locals - a Newfoundlander dog named Bosun - in St John's.
Channel force ship goes further afield
T i l l : SEAFARERS'CHARITY
THOR a ship which formed part of |H NATO's Channel mine counter-L measures group, HMS Hurworth has been straying far from home - including a transatlantic crossing.
I
n 1997, the Year of the Seafarer, KGFS distributed nearly £3M to over 80 nautical charities - a record, but not nearly enough to meet the demand. Roughly £1.64M went to
Royal Navy Charities, £0.96M to Merchant Navy Charities and
£0.3M to Fishermen's Charities and Missions.
SPECIAL BRITANNIA TRIBUTE Support our Seafarers at
A SPECIAL CONCERT by the
Royal Philharmonic Orchestra Royal Festival Hall
The Hunt-class MCMV joined SNFC, the Standing Naval Force Channel, in January, and has since made a punishing three-month trip to the United States. She started by heading to Kirkwall, where her divers inspected the wreck of the battleship HMS Royal Oak and replaced the White Ensign on the war grave. She continued north into the Arctic Circle to work up for Exercise Strong Resolve, then worked her way down via Trondheim and the Danish coast, using the Spanish port of Vigo as the point of departure for the first SNFC Atlantic crossing. To avoid possible bad weather the ships from Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Norway, commanded by a Norwegian officer - took the southern route via the Azores to Halifax, where the British ship underwent a detached maintenance period. Hurworth and her companions then went straight into Exercise Marcot, joining American and Canadian minesweepers in clearing a path for a US amphibious task group. Helping protect the force was HMS Manchester, part of the Standing Naval Force Atlantic, who helped fend off enemy forces which included the prize-winning HMS Richmond (see page 30). A brief rest at Norfolk Beach in Virginia prepared the ship's company for a further exercise off Little Creek in Virginia, as reported in last month's Navy News, a spell in New York which
saw gash European ship welcome up to §00 visitors a day, and a final port visit to St John's, Newfoundland, where even in high summer the risk of icebergs has to be taken seriously. The ship's company of Hurworth had a chance to make friends with the crew of the replica sailing ship Matthew, which had retraced the passage of John Cabot to the New World in 1497 - an event said to have marked the birth of the British Empire. Sailors from Hurworth also spent time in other ships of the Force, while the Royal Navy vessel welcomed German and Canadian personnel in exchange.
Leaving the abundant marine life in her wake
- the ship had reported daily sightings of dolphins and porpoises riding the bow waves, schools of whales taking station on the beam and sea turtles tagging along - Hurworth returned to the UK via Iceland, where the ship's company enjoyed a few days' break. Hurworth has now handed over the SNFC baton to Sandown-class ship HMS Cromer, hiving completed an unusually long and gruellii| deployment which demonstrated the strength of European anti-mine warfare expertise on both sides of the Atlantic.
Pictures by CPO (PHOT) Stuart Antrobus
23 September 1998 an evocative evening of pride and patriotism Ticket details available on
0171-932-0000 Reg Charity No 226446
• Feeling warm - CPO Dave Jenkins, I Weapons Engineering Officer In Hurworth, relaxes in the Blue Lagoon hot spa pools near Reykjavik in Iceland, which in supposed to bring out a feeling of wellbeing and happiness to all who swim in them.
NW/M8
• Feeling cold - HMS Hurworth passes the Arctic Circle, marked by the globe on the icy headland.