LET us hope that the ominous clouds gathering over the gateway to Portsmouth Harbour are not a portent – for this is an occasion of which to be proud.

This is the very first time HMS Defender has sailed under the White Ensign as the task of turning the fifth Type 45 destroyer into a fully-trained, fully-honed and fully-armed 21st-Century man o’war is now under way.

Friday September 28 was marked in the diary as the ‘ready for sea’ date by the powers that be after two months’ preparation in her home base.

Defender arrived in Portsmouth at the tail end of July – just a few days before the Olympics kicked off. She entered harbour under the Blue Ensign, before the ship was formally handed over to the Senior Service by builders BAE and the flag was replaced by the Royal Navy’s famous standard.

As well as readying systems and stocking up on supplies over the summer, gunnery senior rating PO Andrew Cload has been drilling the ship’s company in the art of naval ceremony…

…which came in very handy when HMS York made her final entry into Portsmouth last month.

It’s customary for ships to salute each other as they pass – an officer salutes while a rating pipes, normally on the bridge wing or flight deck.

But given York’s fine career, the Defenders felt the White Rose warship deserved “something a little extra” – and obliged by lining the upper deck and ‘cheering ship’: doffing caps and giving three hearty cheers.

Once the formalities were over it was straight back to work in preparation for Defender’s trials (she’s still at sea right now).

“Taking this state-of-the-art destroyer to sea for the first time is no mean feat and represents the culmination of over two years of hard work for my team,” said the destroyer’ first Commanding Officer Cdr Phil Nash.

“Leaving Portsmouth as planned and on time is a huge achievement and brings the ship another step closer to deploying on operations wherever in the world we are needed.

“I know my sailors are proud to be part of Defender’s first ship’s company – I am equally proud of them.”

His ship is due to be declared operational early in the new year.

HMS Shoreham leads American minehunter USS Dextrous through the Strait of Hormuz with HMS Diamond providing escort. Pictures: PO(Phot) Simmo Simpson, FRPU East, and LA(Phot) Gaz Weatherston, HMS Diamond, and PO(MTO) Chris Weissenborn RNZN

FOUR British warships and more than 400 sailors and Royal Marines have played a key role in one of the biggest minehunting exercises ever staged in the Middle East.

IMCMEX12 – International Mine Countermeasures Exercise 2012 – was designed to test the abilities of 30 nations to work together and deal with the threat of mines blocking some of the most important sea lanes in the world.

Minehunters HMS Shoreham and Atherstone, their support ship RFA Cardigan Bay, all based in Bahrain, plus new destroyer HMS Diamond, plus the mine warfare battle staff, made up the UK’s input to the exercise which saw around 3,000 sailors from 30 nations, including the USA, Japan, New Zealand, Yemen, France, Italy, Jordan, Australia, Canada, and Norway, work together across around 1,000 miles of ocean.

HMS Shoreham leads the way as the Mine Countermeasure vessels fall into line astern of RFA Cardigan Bay, followed by USS Sentry, Devastator and Dextrous

Given the scale of the 11-day exercise and the many nations (and languages) involved, organisers laid on a mini-Olympiad to allow the different nationalities to get to know each other.

Despite having the smallest ship’s company (around 45) in the tournament, Atherstone walked away with the inaugural IMCMEX trophy having proved overall masters of swimming, football, volleyball and basketball.

While sailors were demonstrating their sporting prowess, senior officers were locked in three days of discussions about the latest technology in mines, including the threats posed by Improvised Explosive Devices (or homemade mines), and the latest technology and techniques in dealing with such threats, the exercise moved to sea.

Part of the force was escorted on its way by Portsmouth-based destroyer HMS Diamond, currently in the second half of her maiden deployment.

“The scale of this mine counter-measure exercise shows the wide-scale commitment of nations to supporting maritime security and keeping the vital sea lanes open for trade,” said Diamond’s Commanding Officer Cdr Ian Clarke.

How vital?

Very.

22 metres down a New Zealand Navy diver based on RFA Cardigan Bay uses a hand-held sonar to locate a practice mine

Each day 17 million barrels of oil pass through the narrows between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula, while 3-4 million barrels are moved through the Bab-al-Mandeb Strait, gateway to the Red Sea.

In a typical week, more than 500 ships pass through Hormuz – three in every five of them energy carriers (including liquefied natural gas which is used in the UK) – and those departing the Gulf must use a two-mile-wide outbound traffic lane to reach the open waters of the Arabian Sea and beyond.

In view of the importance of these choke points, IMCMEX was divided into three areas: one off Bahrain, another in the Gulf of Oman, and the third near the Bab-al-Mandeb Strait – gateway to the Red Sea.

Diamond ‘dipped in and out’ of the exercise, letting the mine warfare experts knuckle down to a mix of task group manoeuvres, mine-hunting operations, helicopter mine countermeasures missions (courtesy of the Americans), and international dive teams working together.

The latter was particularly evident aboard HMS Shoreham, which hosted divers from New Zealand and the USA; they not only practised the art of mine disposal but also the worst-case scenario: a diving casualty.

Shoreham has a two-man recompression chamber capable of recreating depths of up to 80m (262ft) for divers suffering ‘the bends’ – decompression sickness.

Using sea boats, the British, American and Kiwi divers demonstrated the swift reactions needed to get a stricken diver back to the ship before they carried out the main part of the exercise.

AB(Diver) Grant Henderson prepares a ‘casualty’ before moving him into HMS Shoreham’s dive chamber

“In any diving emergency swift reactions are essential to get the injured diver into a recompression chamber, regardless of which nation they are from,” said Shoreham’s AB(D) Craig Hay.

“It’s again proven our ability to work with other navies to quickly provide assistance to a casualty if required.”

Senior Chief Sean Smith from the US Navy’s Explosive Ordnance Disposal team added: “It is great to be diving with our international partners – it’s confidence-building to become familiar with their equipment too.”

The Stars and Stripes flutter from the stern of a US Navy Riverine Command Boat as another follows in her wake during their sortie from RFA Cardigan Bay, whose loading dock served as an at-sea ‘base’ for the patrol boats

The New Zealanders brought a specialist team with robot submarines (officially: underwater unmanned vehicles, or UUVs) to the exercise to demonstrate how much time they could save dive teams hunting for mines.

“They really can save the divers a lot of effort, especially in the search phases, and focus their activity to where it is really needed,” explained Chief Combat System Specialist Quinn Harris RNZN.

“This helps the team to be more efficient in executing their task. The ships, UUVs and dive teams present force commanders with a fantastic combined capability.”

Having previously worked in Royal Navy diving teams during a six-month exchange programme, Chief Diver Rangi Ehu RNZN enjoyed the opportunity to again work with other teams.

“Being part of a small team, it is good to find that you are operating on a par with the larger entities,” he said. “Shoreham’s team looked after us well and the assured, professional nature of these three teams shows the benefit of good equipment and training together.”   

HMS Shoreham leads the way followed by United States Ships Sentry, Devastator and Dextrous, HMS Diamond and RFA Cardigan Bay

His words are echoed by the Royal Navy’s senior officer in the Gulf region, Cdre Simon Ancona, United Kingdom Maritime Component Commander.

“Training alongside international partners is crucial to the success of this type of naval activity,” he said.

“Exercises like this really go a long way in bringing us together, they enhance co-operation and hone maritime capabilities in support of long-term regional stability and our ability to work together.”

Vice Admiral John Miller, Commander, the Commander of US Naval Forces Central Command – in charge of the US Navy’s operations in the Middle East – added: “I couldn’t be happier with how the international forces came together to make this exercise a valuable experience for all.”

Duncan’s coming at you… The imposing sight of a Type 45 bearing down on you in the Clyde. Picture: LA(Phot) Stu Hill, FRPU North

BACK on the calm waters of the Clyde is Britain’s newest destroyer, which has successfully completed a month being thrown around off Scotland on her first series of trials.

The sixth and final Type 45 destroyer HMS Duncan returned to Scotstoun on the north bank of Glasgow’s great artery after four weeks of manoeuvring, gunnery and systems trials.

The £1bn destroyer – designed as a replacement to the veteran Type 42s to shield the Fleet from air attack – reached a top speed of over 30kts (34mph) on speed runs, and a ‘fun’ 16˚ heel to one side during a high-speed turn, testing not only the stability of Duncan, but the balance of her mixed civilian and RN crew.

After proving she could manoeuvre deftly, Duncan shifted from the enclosed waters of the Firth of Clyde and environs to the exposed Atlantic by heading up to the ranges around Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides.

Dave McCrea, BAE’s Senior Marine Engineer, explains to Officer of the Watch Lt Will Yoxall that he needs to test 25 degrees of wheel at 30 knots

There she fired all her guns successfully – 4.5in main, 30mm, miniguns, machine-guns – and flashed up her combat systems at sea for the first time.

“This was the first time the ship has been to sea and we’ve achieved everything we set out to do – and more,” said Cdr Phil Game, Duncan’s senior naval officer.

“This success is down to the great teamwork between the RN, BAE and MOD in building Duncan.

“Everyone involved in the building of Duncan can be justly proud of her. And I think our namesake, Admiral Duncan, would be proud of what we as a ship’s company have achieved so far as we bring our ship to life.”

Duncan boasts a little over 70 members of her ship’s company – just over one third of the full complement of 190 Royal Navy officers and ratings who will crew her when she’s formally handed over by builders BAE next year.

Duncan all but obscures Dumbarton Castle as she makes her way down the Clyde

The trials gave them the first chance to get to know their ship at sea –many of the crew are new to Type 45s.

Along with enhancing their knowledge of the ship’s damage control, power and propulsion and combat systems capabilities, time was also spent raising money for the ship’s charity, the Northern Ireland Children’s Hospice.

More than £1,000 was raised with the support of all onboard through race nights, quiz and bingo nights and a dramatic table tennis tournament.

WO Andy Stevenson, Duncan’s Executive Warrant Officer – the highest ranking senior rating aboard – said: “The ship’s company really got stuck into their duties onboard and there’s great pride from everybody in our ship. We put effort into our charity events and the money raised is going to a very worthy cause.”

A second series of trials is lined up for later this autumn before the team at Scotstoun complete their work on the ship over the winter.

HMS Duncan is due to sail for Portsmouth around Easter, when she’ll be formally handed over to the Royal Navy and hoist the White Ensign for the first time.