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NAVY NEWS, APRIL 2008
Celebrities hang out with the Navy THE ROYAL Navy has been a bit of a media star in recent weeks. Ant and Dec paid a surprise visit to HMS Collingwood and children’s TV presenter Andy Akinwolere tried his hand on the sinking ship simulator at HMS Raleigh.
! Rear Admiral Tony Johnstone-Burt receives his Junglie L-plates Picture: PO Sue Emery from 848 NAS instructor Capt Dave West RM
Veteran cab drivers
ALTHOUGH a pilot by trade, Rear Admiral Tony Johnstone-Burt had to pick up his L-plates when he went for an aviation refresher package at RNAS Yeovilton. The admiral, who will soon be taking charge of the Joint Helicopter Command, spent some
Defence college in top ten
WELBECK, the Defence Sixthform College, achieved a top ten rating from the A-level Performance System. The independent body looked at the summer 2007 A-level results of students in 975 colleges and schools nationwide, and the defence college came tenth. The college, which aims to educate students to become officers in the Armed Services or civil service, is the only college in the country where mathematics and physics are compulsory, and has only been at its new, purposebuild site in Leicestershire for two years.
time with the Sea King experts at 848 Naval Air Squadron – one of the four Commando Helicopter Force squadrons that will come under his control in the joint force. The admiral flew the Sea King in general handling, and the more specialist Junglie aspects of lowlevel tactical navigation, confined areas, load-lifting and night vision goggle operations. Rear Admiral Johnstone-Burt was heard to remark that it made a refreshing change from working in an office. However one pilot at 848 NAS needs no refresher course – commanding officer Cdr Terry Tyack has notched up the impressive total of 4,000 hours of flying. Since joining up in 1984, the officer has flown a range of aircraft types, including five different operational helicopters. Upon landing after his 4,000th hour in the air the traditional celebration took place – a bottle of champagne and a ‘cooling-down’ from the squadron.
Andy Akinwolere, from the BBC’s Blue Peter, had the daunting task of facing the Royal Navy’s multi-million pound simulator. Andy joined recruits at HMS Raleigh for routine training on the simulator, known as Havoc. The training is part of the recruits’ nine-week initial training course that helps prepare them for how to deal with floods and damage to the ship’s hull. During the training the simulator rocks from side to side and fills with water. Before he stepped into the simulator Andy confessed to a fear of water, but the Navy won him over: “I get really nervous when I’m out of my depth. But I ended up having an exhilarating day. “I learnt the importance of teamwork, and my team was exceptional,” he said. During the tough onslaught within Havoc, the trainees must work together to stem the flow of water through the breaches in the hull using wooden wedges and hammers. They then have to shore up the bulkheads with timber to reestablish the watertight integrity of the ship. CPO David Battersby, Havoc Senior Instructor, said: “The trainees and staff really enjoyed having Andy with us for the day; he did remarkably well in such a short period of time. “During the exercise the simulator fills with around 70 tonnes of water and can tilt up to 20 degrees from vertical. Flooding on a ship at sea is one of the most dangerous situations to be in and this training is vital.” Ant and Dec have also been hanging out with the Navy
No1 in pen and clubz HMS Monmouth’s clubswinger LPT ‘Pat’ Patterson has been awarded the Tony Thyrwitt-Bettridge Memorial trophy as the best PTI across all ranks. And Logs Lucy Gilston of HMS Ocean – a Writer in old speak – won the Writer of the Year award 2006-07 for the best overall performance at Raleigh. Logistician (Personnel (Admin)) of the Year doesn’t have quite the same ring, does it? – Ed
in practice for the Ant vs Dec challenge, in which they compete against each other in teams in the latest series of ITV’s Saturday Night Takeaway. They spent time in HMS Collingwood undergoing obstacle course training prior to tackling the real thing live on their show on the Saturday. The celebrities – including Bonnie Langford, Debbie McGee, Melinda Messenger – tackled crossing over murky waters, climbing over a vertical wall, crawling through a dark tunnel and scrambling under and above a huge net. Lt Steve Kelly, PTRO and organiser of the challenge said, “The whole experience was quite surreal. “When the celebrities arrived at Collingwood on Tuesday, it was difficult to know how they would react to the challenge and the physical aspects involved. “Fortunately we had great weather, which helped, and to their credit the teams cracked on and got stuck in, whether they were on the assault course or handling training on the field guns. “Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves and we gained an insight into what we were up against.” Saturday was a long day for everyone as it was spent rehearsing and making sure ITV were happy with the camera angles. All their hard work paid off in the end as the whole event went smoothly and to plan. Before they had to go out and compete against each other Ant and Dec watched clips from their training along with all the viewers of Saturday Night Takeaway.
! Dec (or is it Ant?) on the obstacle course at HMS Collingwood with actress Bonnie Langford Picture: ITV The live competition in the studio car park ran perfectly with Dec’s team winning the event and that vital point. Two weeks later the lads and their celebrity teams were back
with the Royal Navy when they headed to Austria to join forces with the successful RN and RM Bobsleigh team for a white-knuckle ride with the winter-sports heroes (see page 51).
Family ties
THE Navy is still a family affair with members meeting up around the globe. Brothers AB(Sea) Lee and ET(ME) Steven Gilboy met while their ships (respectively Westminster and Edinburgh) were preparing for their transits south through the Suez Canal. The brothers from St Athan in south Wales were thrilled to have the chance to spend some time together before setting off again with their deployments. Lee said: “I knew we were both going to be deployed on Orion 08, but I never thought we’d get the chance to meet up. It was great showing my little brother around my new ship.” Meanwhile CPO Annette Laurie ended up training her son, AB Sam Furniss, at HMS Collingwood. Annette was at the Fareham base for a short period, while her son Sam underwent operational training before joining colleagues in Iraq. And down in HMS Raleigh in Cornwall, one trainee sailor had a surprise guest when he saw a very familiar face in the crowd. Trainee AET Glenn Harris told his twin, Alex, that he would be unable to make it to his passing out parade, as he would be on duty at HMS Sultan in Gosport. However, unbeknown to Alex, Glenn had obtained special permission from his instructors to travel beck to HMS Raleigh to see his brother complete his training. Glenn said: “It was fantastic to come back to Raleigh to surprise Alex. The look on his face when he saw me said everything.”
! Steven and Lee Gilboy on HMS Westminster’s forecastle
! Glenn and Alex Harris at HMS Raleigh
Picture: Dave Sherfield