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18 NAVY NEWS, JUNE 2000 Options
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D P A PROJECTS
'Buy some Tritons, give every hull a separate pennant number - and we treble the size of the Fleet overnight!'
NEWSVIEW Ramsay's genius for detail duly recognised
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HE PLAN to commission a statue of Admiral Sir Bertram Ramsay at Dover Castle is long overdue and surely deserving of a more central location. Ramsay masterminded the evacuation from Dunkirk 60 years ago, and four years later was the architect of the crucial naval element of D-Day - Operation Neptune. The Duke of Wellington is said to have defined genius as the infinite capacity for taking pains,and by that definition alone Ramsay certainly qualifies. His plan for Neptune ran to 1,100 pages. At his disposal he had 1,212 warships, 4,125 landing craft and amphibious craft, 735 ancillary vessels and 864 merchant ships. Over three-quarters of the enitire armada was British - and each commanding officer of each vessel, from battleship to motor launch, knew exactly what he had to do and when. Detailed instructions were essential if the hugely complex timetable was not to fall apart. Not only had Ramsay to assemble and move this mass of ships across the Channel, but regardless of any spoiling attack by the enemy, they had to be in position dead on time so that the assault was properly co-ordinated and took maximum advantage of tide levels and covering darkness just before dawn. It was Ramsay's task to advise Eisenhower on the place and timing of the attack; to assemble the thousands of vessels from ports and harbours throughout Britain; and to provide a safe and preferably undetected passage through the Channel minefields for the British, US and Canadian troops who would fight for a foothold on the shores of Hitler's "Fortress Europe". It was also his task to land them on the beaches and provide the massive naval gunfire support to ensure they did not all die there. And to keep the convoy routes from the UK open against inevitable German naval attacks. Also to keep the Allied beachheads supplied and reinforced faster than the enemy could build up its strength to oppose the invasion.
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amsay planned for the worst and hoped for the best. He expected heavy casualties among those vessels and men earmarked for the initial assault. Many of the landing craft officers were told to expect up to 50 per cent casualties and many of the minesweepers that, of necessity, would form the vanguard were not expected to return. Some measure of Ramsay's worst-case scenario was graphically portrayed in Steven Spielberg's film Saving Private Ryan. That the whole business was achieved with much less bloodshed than expected was largely due to Ramsay's meticulous planning. It is not an obviously heroic quality. From his earliest days in the Navy, Ramsay had always been noted as a man who insisted that things should be done properly. When he took command of HMS Broke he found over two pages' worth of faults with her - most of which he summed up as "discipline - bad". In anyone else, this might have made for a personality whose concern for detail left no room for the broader picture. It was Ramsay's genius that he was able to combine the two.
'Big, bold, full of colour and interest' NAVY NEWS has won six Awards of Excellence in the annual Communicators in Business competition the biggest of its kind in Europe. For the first time this year we were judged in the External Publications section, reflecting pur estimated worldwide readership of half a million. The July 1999 edition received an award in this category. Other awards were for Design and Picture Editing and for the Navy News website launched last year And there were two separate Awards for Colour Pictures, underlining the continuing high standard of the work of the RN Photographic Branch. These were taken by LA(PHOT)s Dave Hunt and Rob Harding. Since we first entered the CiB (formerly Editing for Industry) contest in 1972, we have won a total of 89 awards without missing a single year - a unique achievement, we are told. Q From the Second Sea Lord and C-in-C Naval Home Command Vice Admiral Peter Spencer: "This confirms what we already know - that Navy News is a consummately professional and outstanding paper with an excellent track record for objective reporting and eye-catching presentation. Very many congratulations to you and all your impressive team."
High 'wow' factor nets Navv News m awards
What the judges said "An extremely well-written and well-presented publication. The writing is of a high standard and the writers are aware of the publication's wide variety of reader. There is no doubt that the content is effectively tailored to the stated target audience... I thought the look of the publication was first class. The front cover had instant impact and I certainly enjoyed turning over every page... The whole layout gave the publication a high 'wow' factor . . . Even for non-Navy personnel, this is an interesting publication . . . Big, bold, full of colour and interest and an example of just what can be achieved provided sufficient resources are made available."
• The Navy News website team collects an Award of Excellence from Nicholas Parsons at the Communicators in Business awards ceremony in Manchester. Left to right with the veteran TV and radio presenter are: Trevor Muston, Stuart Christmas, Glen Gould and Andy Brady. Said the judges: 'Coming from the Navy News stable it comes as no surprise that this website is a model of what good communications are all about. From the beginning there is clarity, cleanliness and content all within a well-proven grid. A minimum of animations maintains browser focus and good, clear navigation takes in to the site with ease.'