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NAVY NEWS, DECEMBER 2007
BZ for Brian
A TRIPTYCH of books earned one of Britain’s foremost naval historians the coveted maritime ‘Oscar’. Prof Brian Lavery, an expert on the RN in days of sail and steam, collected the Desmond Wettern Media Award from Countess Mountbatten of Burma at a ceremony attended by leaders of the Navy past and present and its many supporters. Prof Lavery is a long-standing author on nautical subjects as well as curator emeritus of ship technology at the National Maritime Museum. He was singled out amid tough competition for three books which appeared in the space of a year: Churchill’s Navy, Shield of Empire – a history of the Royal Navy north of the border – and River-Class Frigates and the Battle of the Atlantic. The finest single work of maritime literature this past 12 months was deemed to be Andrew Welch’s in-depth study of the clash with Iceland over fishing rights – The Royal Navy in the Cod Wars – earning him the Mountbatten Maritime Literary Prize. A high-quality series of documentaries, Deep Wreck Mysteries, stood out among a raft of impressive television shows, winning the programme’s producer Crispin Sadler the Crystal Dolphin Trophy. As this was likely to be the last Wettern awards in their present format, new Commander-in-Chief Fleet Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope presented a series of ‘special recognition awards’ for longtime champions of the work of the Royal Navy, Royal Marines or Merchant Navy. Recognised were: Iain Ballantyne, editor of Warships International Fleet Review; Mike Critchley, publisher of Warship World and head of Maritime Books; author and historian Prof Andrew Lambert of King’s College London; Andrew Linnington, of seafarers’ union Nautilus UK; and Navy News assistant editor Richard Hargreaves. The awards, held aboard the Silver Sturgeon on the River Thames, are named in honour of Daily Telegraph journalist and Royal Naval Reservist Desmond Wettern, Fleet Street’s last naval correspondent, and are organised by his widow Gillian and the Maritime Foundation. They were instigated to celebrate maritime journalism and to champion the role of the sea in British life today. “Our economic prosperity is linked to the sea and – surrounded by it as we are – we are dependent on the Royal Navy to maintain the security of our trade routes,” Countess Mountbatten told the 180 guests at the ceremony.
l Practice for a boarding operation with the Lynx on the back of frigate HMS Argyll, and (below) a seaboat sets out on a patrol in the northern Arabian Gulf
You say goodbye, and I say hello AS the sun rises and sets over the waters of the Arabian Gulf, the Royal Navy and its allies maintain a steady watch on the platforms that keep the oil income flowing into the economy of Iraq.
The OPLATs – the shorthand term for the Khawr al Amayah and Al Basrah oil terminals – have been a familiar sight to members of the Royal Navy for the last decade. And while HMS Richmond bowed out of her duties around the oil platforms as November began, it is HMS Argyll who now watches over these looming structures. Under the heading of Combined Task Force 158, the RN ship is working alongside the US Navy, US Coast Guard and Australian Navy to guard the OPLATs which just happen to be situated in the centre of one of the busiest and most lucrative fishing grounds in the Gulf...
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It can produce a somewhat intricate surface picture watching over the 50-plus small skiffs and large dhows that cluster within a three-mile radius of the precious platforms. And precious is the word, as the fuel that is pumped through the OPLATs accounts for up to 90 per cent of Iraq’s gross domestic product. Each skiff, dhow or craft that breaches the 2,000m exclusion zone has to be investigated, with interaction patrols (IPATs) and boarding operations a regular feature of life for those in the area. But the sailors work hard at building up friendly relations with the local fishermen and merchant mariners through routine patrols. However vigilance remains key for the units in the area as the oil platforms and the wealth they produce remain a target for terrorists keen to disrupt the good work in the area. The fledgling Iraqi Navy are central to this: the units from CTF 158 are ably assisted by Iraqi Patrol Craft, and Iraqi Marines work with the RN and Royal Marines during boarding operations and training. The routines for responding to possible attacks on the OPLATs are regularly put into practice, although usually for nothing more sinister than a lost fishing boat. However there are other unexpected challenges that come the Navy’s way on this watch.
During the first few days on patrol, Argyll was called upon to provide expert medical help to an injured US Coast Guard sailor. First-aider Logs(CS) Chris Gatcum and the frigate’s medical officer Surg Lt Aaron Calvin travelled by seaboat to the US Coast Guard Cutter Maui to help PO2 Robert Rusko USCG. Initial treatment on the US vessel was followed by a night on board the British frigate before PO Rusko was taken ashore to a local hospital. So despite the familiar surroundings, the unexpected is a constant presence in these waters. Cdr Piers Hurrell, commanding officer of HMS Richmond, said: “It has been a particularly busy and rewarding period for the ship’s company. “Our challenge has been to remain in a ready state to deal with any number of situations at very short notice. “By training the Iraqi Navy in key OPLAT defence skills and boarding techniques, my team are helping to create the right conditions so that Iraqi self-determination in the maritime sphere can succeed.” Argyll has now taken over this busy programme of work. The ship’s company are working in defence watches – six hours on, six hours off for most of the crew – so that the ship is ready to respond to any situation at any time of day or night. HMS Richmond is expected home to Portsmouth just before Christmas, while Argyll will remain on station until spring next year.
Crate expectations for Fleet Air Arm IS IT a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s a big metal box for helicopter spare parts. Slung beneath Merlins in Cornish skies in recent months has been a new piece of kit to make front-line flying considerably more efficient. Each time a Merlin or Sea King deploys it is expected to take 2,000 different spare parts – weighing about seven tonnes in all. Unfortunately the packs used to transport the kit – Chacons, or ‘Chatham containers’ – were difficult to pack, difficult to store and prone to a battering from the
elements. In 2005 alone £300,000 of helicopter spares were written off after being damaged in transit. Not surprisingly, the Fleet Air Arm wanted something better. In fact, it wanted something which could be slung under a Merlin or Sea King, hold up to 2.2 tonnes of kit, be reduced to a flat-pack when not in use, protect parts from the elements with a cover (emblazoned with the RN logo if necessary), take up almost a third less space than its predecessor and be quicker and easier to use
(they forgot the moon on a stick – Ed). Somerset-based Mobile Shelter Solutions managed to fulfil all these criteria with their ‘transport frame’. Those frames underwent extensive tests at Culdrose, where a team from the Joint Air Transport Evaluation Unit was happy that the crates could carry two-tonne payloads underneath Merlins at speeds up to 80kts. Suitably tested, these flat-pack frames are now being used by front-line Merlin squadrons on operations at sea.