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Cardiff based P2000 HMS Exploit has returned to the front line Fleet after a period of refit in Holyhead. HMS Exploit successfully finished her Annual Slip and Repair Period at Holyhead Boatyard which sees her ready for another busy year of high tempo URNU operations.

Starting as she means to go on, Exploit welcomed the new intake of first year students from Birmingham URNU on board for two indoctrination weekends.

Following on from their weekends at BRNC Dartmouth and at HMNB Portsmouth, the new intake from Birmingham URNU embarked in Exploit on a cold and bitter Friday night in Penarth.

The weekend programme saw the students exposed to life on board ship at a slow and cautious pace – deliberately so to aide the professional development of the students.

The first year intake were made up of students from University of Birmingham, University of Leicester, De Montford University, Birmingham City University and Aston University.

“During the weekend we needed to brief the students on safety issues, sea survival, damage control and life on board. “Sleeping on board the ship for the first time and keeping watches through the night was somewhat of a shell shock for the students!

“For some students, finding out there was a 0600 in the morning was a revelation,” commented CPO Pam Ayres, Exploit XO.

“The tempo of these First Year weekends is quite slow to allow the new entry to get the most out of the two days. “Next time the first years are on board the ship will be on passage to a Bristol Channel port for a sea weekend proper or en route to the continent for an Easter or Summer deployment.

“Simple tasks like engine room rounds, switching on the oven in the Galley and using the Heads must be briefed and mastered by the new first year students,” added Coxswain Mick Archer, Birmingham URNU’s chief of staff.

To give the first year a taste of driving the ship, Exploit sailed through the Cardiff Barrage locks into the Bristol Channel.

Each first year drove the ship as quartermaster in the vicinity of Flatholm and Steepholm Islands under the watchful supervision of third year students.

Exploit’s home port in Penarth offers the perfect training ground in nearby Cardiff Bay – a man made fresh water lagoon.

This two mile by two mile lake is not affected by tide, sea state or wind.

So after a morning in the Bristol Channel, Exploit returned to Cardiff Bay for man overboard exercises and damage control scenarios.

Thereafter Exploit berthed at Mermaid Quay for the night in the public eye.

“It was great to be finally at sea in Exploit. The ship had been delayed leaving her annual slip period in Holyhead and this had impacted the first year induction plan.

“However once on board we were made to feel very welcome, given our task books and only lost one to sea sickness, “commented a beaming Officer Cadet Lewis Holdsworth.

On the third day of the First Year sea weekend, the new entry students were given engineering briefs by Exploits engineering team of CPO Tug Wilson and LET(ME) Paul Shingleton.

Thereafter the students again enjoyed some time on the wheel and a navigation lesson from the embarked training officer in the surroundings of Cardiff Bay.

“The keys to a successful new entry sea weekend are a willing ship’s company, supportive second and third year students along with keen, eager first year students.

“For both first year weekends this winter we were also fortunate to have good weather, perhaps a little chilly at times, which ensured first year students were not overly sea sick,” said AB Nick Bolt.

“This year we recruited 21 first year students, so this necessitated two first year weekends rather than the traditional one weekend.

“Five second and third year students along with two training officers supported the weekend, making it a whole ship effort from my team at Birmingham URNU.

“The first years had been looking forward to seeing their ship after two weekends of shore based training at BRNC and HMNB Portsmouth.

“Now they are trained at a basic level, we can now concentrate on sea weekends to Bristol, Swansea and Milford Haven and deployments to Ireland, Spain and France, ” finished Lt Simon Shaw, Exploit’s CO.

HMS Exploit is one of two P2000’s based in Penarth, Cardiff. Along with Express, she forms one of only a handful of Wales based Royal Navy units. Exploit has been assigned to Birmingham URNU since 1994 and celebrates her 25th Birthday this year.
Press Release, December 5, 2013; Image: Royal Navy

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A joint agency operation targeting illegal foreign fishing in the Torres Strait has led to the apprehension of seven illegal foreign fishing boats from Papua New Guinea and the return of almost one tonne of live sea cucumbers to Warrior Reef.

Sea cucumbers (also known as bech de mer) are considered a delicacy in most cultures in East and South East Asia and are highly regarded for their perceived health benefits.

The joint agency operation included the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service (ACBPS), Royal Australian Navy, and the Australian Fisheries Management Authority (AFMA).

The fishing boats were located by HMAS Wollongong and a Customs and Border Protection helicopter and were intercepted on Friday, 22 November 2013, and Saturday, 23 November 2013, on the Warrior Reef, in the Torres Strait.

HMAS Wollongong, operating under the control of Border Protection Command, boarded four of the vessels on Friday and seized approximately 200 kilograms of live sea cucumbers, along with other catch, which included three giant clams. A further amount of live sea cucumber, believed to be in the vicinity of 200 kilograms, was thrown overboard by the foreign fishers.

On Saturday, HMAS Wollongong boarded a further three vessels and seized over 200 kilograms of live sea cucumbers and other catch, along with one large live sea turtle. An estimated further 350 kilograms of sea cucumbers was also thrown overboard by the foreign fishers.

Over the two days, the seven vessels and 60 crew members were detained and transferred to the custody of Australian Customs Vessel Holdfast Bay. The fishers have now been transferred to Papua New Guinea (PNG) authorities in Daru, PNG. The seven vessels are being held at Thursday Island by AFMA awaiting the outcome of prosecutions under PNG law.

Deputy Commander Border Protection Command, Terry Price, said the apprehensions were a direct result of joint agency cooperation to target illegal foreign fishing.

“This is one of the largest results we have ever had in the Torres Strait from a joint agency fisheries operation and I commend all officers involved in the detection, interception and apprehension of these illegal fishing boats,” Deputy Commander Price said.

“Through prompt action by the boarding parties and onshore authorities, these people will be prosecuted under Papua New Guinea law.”

AFMA General Manager Fisheries Operations, Peter Venslovas, said that these operations do act as a strong deterrent to illegal foreign fishing.

“AFMA takes illegal foreign fishing seriously and we work closely with other governments in the region to reduce this threat,” Mr Venslovas said.

“Our partnerships with Customs and Border Protection and the Australian Defence Force ensure that we can catch and deal with illegal fishers when they enter Australian waters.”

The seized sea cucumbers and large live sea turtle were all returned to the reef after the vessels were intercepted by HMAS Wollongong.
Press Release, December 05, 2013; Image: Australian Navy

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A Royal Navy helicopter has winched an injured lifeboat crew member to hospital in strong winds and heavy seas around five miles west of the Mull of Kintyre.

The crew of Campbeltown Lifeboat, a Severn-Class vessel, was called to the aid of a 60 metre, 2000 tonnes fish farm boat which had lost rudder steerage late on Thursday night (November 28).

The vessel was adrift in difficult conditions west of Kintyre.

With the ship under tow, the lifeboat was making steady progress towards Campbeltown Habour when one of the crew suffered an injury to his leg and they called for assistance.

At 1.05am, the duty crew of HMS Gannet’s search and rescue Sea King from Prestwick in Ayrshire was airborne. Flying into a strong westerly headwind – gusting up to 45 knots – the crew arrived on scene 35 minutes later at 1.40am.

Making a radar approach due to a lack of visual references and working on night vision goggles, they found the lifeboat towing the larger vessel.

The injured casualty was inside of the lifeboat, which, due to the rough sea state, was pitching violently in the waves.

With the larger vessel under tow, the lifeboat’s manoeuvrability was severely impaired and it became clear it was going to be a very difficult job.

It took several approach attempts to find a safe position for the helicopter to go into a hover above the lifeboat in order to deliver the winchman Petty Officer Shaun Knights, who is also an ambulance technician, to the deck.

“Because of the sea state and tow line, the lifeboat was rolling heavily and unpredictably in the waves – it was unable to easily alter course to make its passage more suitable for winching operations,”

explained Lieutenant Angela Lewis, HMS Gannet’s observer [navigator] and winch operator.

“We had to avoid the larger vessel behind it, as well as making sure that our winch wire would be as clear as possible of the elevated technical equipment on the lifeboat.

“And we had to be mindful of the dangerous strain on the tow rope – had it snapped, it could have damaged the aircraft.

“The way that the towline was secured also halved the potential deck area available to us for the winch procedure.

“We managed after several attempts to get what we call a hi-line onto the deck – this is effectively a piece of rope which can be used to steady the winch wire – it is anchored at one end by a person on the ground, or deck in this case, and can stop the winch from spinning in high winds or turbulence, which we had both of in abundance.

“In this case the hi-line was used not only as a steadying line, but mainly so that the winch wire could be pulled across the deck allowing the aircraft to stand off a difficult moving position.

“We then managed to get Petty Officer Shaun Knights onto the lifeboat – despite being slammed against the lifeboat’s rails and deck several times, he was able to detach from the winch and allow us to put the stretcher down.

“Shaun began to work on making sure the casualty was comfortable and packaged on the stretcher and we moved the helicopter clear of the lifeboat to give less downwash from the rotors.

“At this point, the towrope to the larger ship snapped. Larne Lifeboat was then put on standby, but, in the meantime, this had released the Campbeltown Lifeboat to be able to get a better position, which was actually of benefit to us.

“Our pilots – Lieutenant Jon Lynas and Lieutenant Commander Lloyd Shanahan – had been working tirelessly to keep the aircraft as steady as possible, which was extremely hard going.

“Jon was at the controls and was having to pull high power to remain at the correct height and steady in the difficult gusts.

“With the Campbeltown Lifeboat in a better position and the casualty packaged on the stretcher we were able to make the final recovery into the helicopter before heading for Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock.”

By now the helicopter was fuel critical and had to shut down at the hospital while the casualty was taken to a waiting ambulance and safely delivered to the care of medical staff.

The injured crewman has since been discharged from hospital and is making a good recovery.

Campbeltown Lifeboat continued to assist the stricken ship, which was delivered to Campbeltown Harbour at 12 noon today (Friday November 29).

The helicopter returned to HMS Gannet at 4.30am after almost three and a half hours.

The full HMS Gannet crew was pilots Lieutenant Commander Lloyd Shanahan and Lieutenant Jon Lynas, observer [navigator] Lieutenant Angela Lewis and Petty Officer Shaun ‘Boogie’ Knights, winchman and ambulance technician.
Press Release, December 05, 2013; Image: Royal Navy

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The Australian Navy will progressively change the colour of its surface fleet to meet modern war-fighting and regional environmental conditions, the Chief of Australian Navy, Vice Admiral Ray Griggs, has announced.

While not normally apparent to the bystander, the recent International Fleet Review with 17 international ships visibly demonstrated that colour schemes do vary significantly between nations.

These are mainly due to the regional environmental conditions faced by national navies such as the percentage of cloud cover or sunlight.

The Royal Australian Navy has traditionally used the Storm Grey colour based upon a traditional northern hemisphere ‘Light Grey’ which was developed to deter detection under overcast skies. That paint scheme was adopted in the 1950’s. With predominant sunlit conditions faced in Australian waters and significant improvements in paint technologies, the Chief of Navy decided to introduce a more appropriate paint scheme.

The revised scheme and new paint technologies were reviewed through extensive consultation with the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) Maritime Group. The basis for the new scheme is around the regionally compatible Haze Grey colour, utilising new technologies in polysiloxane paints with Near Infrared Reflecting Pigments (NIRR).

Research has shown that the polysiloxane paints provide improved durability and fire resistance over older polyurethane systems. The use of reflecting pigments in the Haze Grey formulation reduces external shipboard temperatures by up to 20 degrees Celsius compared to the traditional Storm Grey. This contributes to decreased demand on shipboard environmental systems, a reduced infrared signature for the ship which decreases detection ability, a desirable outcome in combat.

The scheme will be implemented by a phased introduction in scheduled maintenance periods and will yield operational improvements as well as reduce costs and improve technical performance.
Press Release, December 5, 2013; Image: Australian DoD
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