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NAVY NEWS, DECEMBER 2003
27
REVOLUTION IS IN THE AIR IN DEVONPORT AS THE ARMADA ARRIVES AND SAILORS GO RACK TO SCHOOL AT THE WATER'S EDGE
Drake's sights set on Armada I
T'S TAKEN 415 years but the Armada is finally transforming Devormort.
And no, Sir Francis Drake, would not be turning in his grave. He'd probably be quite chuffed. Sailors living in HMS Drake will sec the biggest shake-up in the establishment's history as a multimillion pound revamp brings the base's accommodation into the 21st Century. In under four years, 1,650 new rooms for single officers and ranks living on site will be created, each with its own toilet and shower, each with its own phone socket, and - crucially - each with privacy and personal space. Project Armada is the ambitious plan to transform all single living accommodation in Europe's largest naval base. The scale of the work at Drake a privately-funded project which the Navy will pay for in installments in coming years - goes beyond the scope of similar schemes at Portsmouth or Faslane. Blocks will be flattened and rebuilt. The famous drill hall will be given a fresh lease of life. Tower blocks will be replaced by green space. And all in little more than three years. It means for sailors currently living on site there will be short-term pain for long-term gain. But Armada project manager Ruth Keegan pledges sailors will only have to move flats once during the construction upheaval. "This accommodation is a per-
son's home. I don't want to see them messed about, so they should only have to move once," she said. "Armada is a terrific change for Dcvonport. It's a terrific change for the better." Mrs Kecgan is quite blunt when it comes to the condition of existing junior rates' accommodation "I would not have my children living in them."
The present high rises - the Hawkins, Boscawen, Cornwell or HCB block - and Rodney and Benbow blocks belong to an age when tall flats and concrete cladding were in vogue. Three decades on they have fallen far behind what young people expect - and usually enjoy - on college and university campuses. Upgrading shoreside accommodation was one of the cornerstone
philosophies of previous Second Sea Lord Admiral Sir Peter Spencer. Replacement blocks at Portsmouth and Faslane are taking shape; Drake's transformation should begin in the New Year. It will begin with HCB, which will be flattened. New cn-suitc campus-style flats for senior rates will rise phoenix-like on the same site. WOs and senior ranks will also take over the drill hall, which will be converted into mess facilities. Junior ratings meanwhile will eventually move into the present WOs and senior rates' block - but not before the building has been converted to single, en-suite rooms throughout. Additional accommodation for junior ranks will go up on the site of the Rodney blocks, while the Bcnbow tower block will be razed to the ground and turned into green space. The last act will be to refurbish the north and south blocks of the Ward Room and rebuild Armada block. "We've had to sell this to the senior ratings - they like their block. It's relatively new. But they will get much better facilities when this project is completed," Mrs Keegan explained. "One of the key aims has been to maintain that feeling of community. There will still be sports facilities, bars, hair dressers, a shop and other amenities - and there will still be communal areas in the accommodation blocks. That's very important."
Courageous decision ends spell of myths DOCKYARD bosses believe opening veteran nuclear submarine HMS Courageous to the public is banishing myths about nuclear power and safety.
Officers believe turning the former Cold War warrior into a museum has proved worthwhile. More than 4,000 people have squeezed through the hatches of the hunter-killer since her move to dry dock more than a year ago. Base bosses admit that as a museum piece Courageous is still rough and ready and not the full "visitor experience' they want to create for her. Tourist numbers may pale in comparison with HMS Victory and her historic friends in Portsmouth. But with Devonport not open to the public on the scale Portsmouth dockyard is, senior officers are pleased with the numbers - and especially with the results. "Generally, the reaction of the public has been very positive. It has helped to raise awareness of nuclear submarines and how we look after our decommissioned boats. Better understanding can never be a bad thing," explained Lt Cdr Ian Duncan, business manager for the Captain Base Safety in Devonport. "We're trying to de-mystify nuclear submarines, not just how they operate but the whole nuclear issue." Falklands veteran Courageous was picked ahead of HMS Conqueror and HMS Valiant, also de-commissioned, as a showpiece because externally she was in better condition and internally less had been ripped out. A trawl of skips found some apt 1970s decor such as TV, video and a projector for the messes.
• The accommodation and administrative heart of HMS Drake which will be transformed in less than four years to provide en-suite facilities for all single sailors living on the base
New waterfront centre in tune with family harmony A PIONEERING satellite learning centre will open in Devon port in the New Year to give west country sailors more time at home. A waterfront training school will mirror courses provided at bases outside the Plymouth area as senior officers look to slash the amount of time sailors spend away being trained. A building once used to train /aggers is being stripped out and turned into an offshoot school to teach communications skills, soldering, simple hydraulic and pneumatic engineering and other facets of the Naval learning process. Courses will be run either over computers or using instructors sent from other establishments in a move which should save 9,000 days a year for the sailors passing through training. To date, communications and warfare rates have been sent on courses at HMS Collingwood or Portsmouth and engineers to HMS Sultan all 18O miles from Plymouth.
The training is adding to the family separation sailors suffer at sea and cutting down on separation is one of the cornerstones of the TOPMAST initiative. Senior officers believe a satellite learning centre in Plymouth providing the same courses to the same standard will keep training at a high level, but crucially allow sailors to learn without being split from their families. The centre will also be equipped with an internet cafe and there are already plans to increase the range of courses on offer, including bringing in mobile trailers. "It makes more sense to bring a teacher down here to Plymouth than send 16 pupils up to Collingwood," explained Lt Cdr Glynn Evans, heading the project. "If people feel the Navy cares about them, they are more likely to stay. Harmony time is very important. "Setting this up is more expensive than running the existing courses - but in the long term there will be savings."
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Royal Navy Sword & Scabbard • Fish out of water HMS Courageous in her permanent dry dock And the boat still has a semiactive life, albeit limited, used as a training vehicle by MOD Police and DML dockyard staff. The passageways and nooks and crannies of Courageous are ideal for teaching police sniffer dogs the layout of a submarine. These 'specialist visits' account for about 10 per cent of people traipsing through Courageous. Navy Days in 2002 brought in almost one third of the submarine's 4,000 visitor total. One in five visitors is a schoolchild and the general public accounts for the remaining 'tourists'. All show interest in the cramped conditions submariners must endure and the long-term care of a decommissioned boat. They also ask a few odd questions.
"We get the old favourites like 'Where are the windows?' and 'How do you sec where you're going under water?' One child saw the surgeon's saw and asked whether it was for torturing prisoners," Lt Cdr Duncan added. Although de-fuelled, the reactor compartment remains on board but is off limits to the public. Not for safety grounds, but because a long-standing nuclear agreement with the US means that people without security clearance cannot see the compartment. The agreement may date to the late 50s, and technology has moved on apace, but the fundamentals of nuclear power remain the same. A small visitor centre next to Courageous' dock will slowly be improved as will the boat herself.
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Plans for similar waterfront training centres in Faslane and Portsmouth are in hand but on a smaller scale to save up to 20,000 training days per year.
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