Royal Navy Helicopter Search & Rescue Crews Rewarded

Members of Royal Navy helicopter search and rescue crews have received bravery awards from the Queen for three dramatic rescues, it was announced yesterday.

Lieutenant-Commander Martin Lanni and Petty Officer Aircrewman Kevin Regan, from HMS Gannet in Prestwick, were presented with the Air Force Cross and Queen’s Gallantry Medal respectively.

Lieutenant-Commander Lanni, 39, flew the helicopter that plucked three climbers off a cliff on Ben Nevis in a daring night-time operation in atrocious weather.

The men were trapped on a ledge in a blizzard, out of reach of the mountain rescue team. The four-man helicopter crew worked for more than six hours to reach them, retreating off the mountain four times to regroup. Despite a dropping fuel gauge, the Sea King returned twice more to lift 12 members of the mountain rescue teams to safety.

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Without the helicopter’s intervention, in May 2007, lives would have been lost.

Observer Lieutenant-Commander Martin “Florry” Ford was awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Bravery in the Air for his part in the rescue.

Petty Officer Regan, 30, was awarded the Queen’s Gallantry Medal for two rescues, one of which involved plucking a man who was high on drugs and extremely aggressive out of Loch Long, Argyll.

Police in a boat attending the incident, in June 2007, had been unable to rescue the man. Petty Officer Regan was lowered on a short line from the helicopter and faced verbal and physical abuse before the man passed out, allowing the officer to winch him clear, a difficult task as he was unconscious. Petty Officer Regan then administered emergency first aid en route to hospital.

In another incident, in January last year, Petty Officer Regan was part of a crew that rescued six people from the deck of a stricken ferry in the Irish sea near Blackpool.

In the dark and in dreadful weather, MV Riverdance was listing 45 degrees in heavy seas. Because of the conditions the rescue had to be rapid, and Petty Officer Regan risked his own safety by unclipping from the winch line to allow passengers to be lifted two at a time to speed the evacuation.

Lieutenant-Commander Lanni said: “It was an enormous honour to travel to the Palace of Holyrood and to receive my award from Her Majesty the Queen.

“It is a true high point in my career with the Royal Navy. It was a surprise to hear that I had been awarded the Air Force Cross and it makes me feel humble to be recognised in such a way for simply doing my job.

“That said, it was a tough rescue and the stakes couldn’t have been higher. I had a superb crew with me and we all pulled together to make sure that those climbers were taken to safety. And the Lochaber Mountain Rescue members also deserve a mention and recognition for their critical role in this rescue.”

Petty Officer Regan said: “This has been an extremely proud moment for me. I’m just really pleased and still surprised that I have been awarded this honour.

“Growing up I never expected that I’d end up meeting the Queen. Obviously it’s nice to be honoured, but both rescues involved a four-man crew so this is for all of us, not just me.

“At the end of the day we were just doing our job and given the circumstances I’d do exactly the same again.”

Altogether, five members of HMS Gannet — 20 per cent of the Royal Navy’s personnel at the unit — learnt that they had been variously awarded the Air Force Cross, Queen’s Gallantry Medal and Queen’s Commendation for Bravery in the Air.

The honours covered four complex and dangerous rescues that led to more than 20 lives being saved.

A further three unit members were awarded a Commander in Chief Fleet Commendation for their roles in a number of rescues.

In 2007 HMS Gannet became the UK’s busiest helicopter search and rescue station since records began, with 359 call outs, assisting 349 people, of whom 286 were casualties.

Last year the station broke its own record, with 382 call outs, on which 347 people were rescued. The station provides cover for 98,000 square miles around the west of Scotland, northern England and Northern Ireland.

Navy hit by £1bn rise in carrier plan

Plans to build new aircraft carriers for the Royal Navy are at risk because costs have soared by £1billion, it was revealed last night.

A leaked memo showed builders of the aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, known as QE Class carriers, were worried.

It said: "The MoD will publish its annual report and accounts in July; these will show £1billion of QE Class cost growth. This is a very real fight for the programme's survival."

The memo, written for the chief executives of companies participating in the project, was leaked to the BBC.

But sources say there is little prospect of the project being dropped. The MoD said: "We took the decision to delay the two future aircraft carriers in December 2008."

Petition to stop wasting further money on the Eurofighter

Patrick Seurre has set up a new petition on the Number 10 website urging the Prime Minister to stop all spending on the Eurofighter Typhoon Tranche 3. As Lewis Page writes in The Register, the Eurofighter programme represents all that is wrong with British armed forces. Way over-budget, years late and of little use or relevance to the needs of today. It is just a pretty toy for the RAF and a work creation scheme. We have been critical of this £20 billion programme for a long time which has produced a short-range air defence fighter which has no real use, can't be converted to fly from the RN's carriers (where it could actually be useful) and its vast expense is leaving the RN without the ships it needs and the Army without equipment it needs for current conflicts. We urge you to please sign the petition and stop this criminal waste of money.

Sea Lord says Navy needs more cash

BRITAIN’S most senior naval officer has accused ministers of “sea blindness” and revealed he has had to point out his overstretched ships can’t be in more than one place at one time.

Admiral Sir Jonathon Band, the First Sea Lord, told the Daily Telegraph there was a pressing need to hold a debate on the country’s defence priorities.

He revealed he has even had to remind ministers – keen to set more missions for the Royal Navy while simultaneously culling the fleet – a ship can’t be in two places at once.

Sir Jonathon, who is stepping down after three-and-a-half years, also warned that Britain was “losing the ability to think strategically”.

“I think Government could continue to learn,” he said. “Until recently there’s been sea blindness. Is it because people get into politics for domestic rather than international reasons?”

In a warning to politicians looking to make defence cuts, he said: “You don’t need to be an economist to realise major countries face a challenging outlook, but just because things are tough, don’t stop insuring your house. We have to have a strategic debate.

"Looking round the world, I don’t see it calming down; I don’t see any argument for Britain doing less.

“There is bound to be a limit on ship building, that’s fine. All I’m saying is, with the size of fleet, I can’t go any more places. If anyone wants me to go somewhere I say ‘fine, I’m very happy to go there, but where don’t you want me to go?’”

He confirmed this was “an actual discussion” he’d had with ministers.

“The Gulf is clearly a priority, and will remain so with a bi-lateral agreement with Iraq,” he said.

“In the Mediterranean we put a ship in whenever we can afford to. In the Caribbean and northern Atlantic we have dependent territories and fight the drug trade.

“We used to patrol that all year, now less than half the year with a full warship. Down south we have a deterrence mission [for the Falklands], and en route try to service our engagement with South American and West African friends.

“Turn the clock forward 20 years and we will be worrying about Asia and the West Pacific. In the past six months we’ve conducted exercises with Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, India, Bangladesh, Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei. If you cut the naval cake too far you just say ‘OK, we won’t go to the Far East’. Strategically, that would be incredibly stupid.”

The First Sea Lord has already seen his order of 12 Type 45 Destroyers halved.

In a clear swipe at ministers, he ridiculed the view that says “my God, a Type 45 is very expensive”. He said: “If you want to protect a task group, that’s what you need. And then, it’s jolly cheap, and you’re jolly glad you have it.”

He believes Britain’s island status must place the sea at the heart of its thinking. Piracy, terrorism, drugs and people trafficking, protecting energy and trade routes all point to an increased naval role.

“People have no idea that by 2012 their lights will be staying on because of liquid gas arriving in Milford Haven daily,” he said. “There is a world out there with a huge maritime element. I mean, we call it Earth; we should call it The Sea.”

According to the Telegraph interview, the First Sea Lord is frustrated by the Government’s drastic cuts to the fleet which now has less than a quarter of the 413 warships it enjoyed in 1964.

Investment was needed even to maintain a diminished fleet, he said.

“We are no longer the second largest navy, but we are the only navy with that global capability and frankly, the only professional partner of note to the Americans.”

Sir Jonathon also admitted sailors were “frustrated” and “disappointed” at the failure to recognise the Navy’s huge contribution to recent conflicts.

Last winter up to 40 per cent of our forces in Afghanistan were Navy, but because Royal Marines are described as “troops” and helicopter pilots are assumed to be RAF, the two other services are given the credit.

Royal Navy captures Somali pirates... and sets them free

4th June 2009. This sound familiar

Nearly a dozen pirates armed with rocket-propelled grenades, machineguns and grappling hooks have been seized in the Gulf of Aden, after being intercepted by a Royal Navy warship.

Two skiffs had been detected by the radar on board HMS Portland, a Type 23 frigate, which was originally designed for anti-submarine warfare.

Suspecting that they were “not innocent fishing vessels”, the frigate, commanded by Commander Tim Henry, steamed closer to the skiffs and saw that both vessels were filled with weaponry and ammunition. The ship’s Lynx helicopter was sent to hover over the skiffs while teams of Royal Marine and navy personnel in rigid inflatable boats sped towards the craft and disarmed the ten men on board. The Lynx was armed with a machinegun and snipers.

“The skiffs were equipped with extra barrels of fuel, grappling hooks and a cache of weapons that included rocket-propelled grenades, machineguns and ammunition,” navy officials said.

Because of the rules of engagement, however, the ten pirates had to be set free. “We can only arrest suspected pirates if we catch them in the act or on the point of launching an attack on a vessel,” a Ministry of Defence official said.

“Clearly, with all the weaponry in the skiffs, there was an intent to commit piracy, but we hadn’t actually caught them in the middle of an attack so we had to release them.”

All the weapons and ammunition were confiscated and the ten men were piled into the larger of the two skiffs, provided with enough fuel to get them to the Somali coast and told to go home. Some of the fuel was then put into the other skiff and set on fire.

“The pirates tend to use the smaller boats to go up against the merchant vessels they are trying to hijack, so we basically removed or destroyed all the piracy paraphernalia,” the MoD official said.

HMS Portland is serving with the Combined Maritime Forces Task Force 151, a multinational naval group that currently consists of ships from the United States, Britain, Turkey, South Korea, Singapore, Denmark and Japan. It was established to conduct counter-piracy operations.

The latest successful action against pirates in the Gulf of Aden took place on Tuesday. Dramatic pictures of the sequence of events that led to the burning of one of the skiffs were released by the MoD yesterday. The Royal Navy frigate had identified and pursued the skiffs in co-ordination with a Spanish maritime patrol aircraft.

“This international collaboration cannot be understated and as more countries join the fight, we will continue to work together to help deter, disrupt and thwart criminal acts of piracy,” said Commodore Tim Lowe, deputy commander of the Combined Maritime Forces.

HMS Portland has been involved recently in several other counterpiracy operations. Commander Henry said that his ship was playing her part in keeping the area safe for internationaltrade.

Reported by the TIMES

HMS Exeter: last Falklands ship retires from service

HMS Exeter, the last surviving operational Royal Navy warship which took part in the Falklands War, will retire from service on Wednesday.

A decommissioning ceremony to mark the end of HMS Exeter's 29-year career, is to be held at Portsmouth Naval Base.

Amongst the 325 guests attending the event will be many of its Falklands veterans as well as 10 of its 21 former commanding officers.

The ceremony will be conducted by naval chaplain the Rev James Tabor. The ship's affiliate organisations, including Exeter City Council, will also be represented.

Exeter's white ensign will be lowered for the last time during the ceremony and it will be rounded off in naval ceremonial fashion with the cutting of a decommissioning cake.

Portsmouth-based HMS Exeter destroyed four Argentine aircraft - two Skyhawks and two reconnaissance planes - during the Falklands campaign.

The Type 42 destroyer was sent to the region from the Caribbean to replace its sister ship HMS Sheffield, the first major British casualty of the conflict.

Built by Swan Hunter Shipbuilders on the Tyne, HMS Exeter was launched in 1978 and entered service in September 1980.

It was also involved in the Gulf War of 1991, employed as an escort for a US battleship and mine countermeasures vessels off the Kuwaiti coast.

In 2005 it took part in the International Fleet Review to mark the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar.

During its lengthy service around the globe Exeter clocked up 892,811 nautical miles.

The Navy is replacing its ageing Type 42s with the far more capable Type 45 Daring class of destroyers.

The first of the class, HMS Daring, made its first entry to its home base at Portsmouth in January and the second, HMS Dauntless, is due to arrive next year.

Most of Exeter's ship's company have already been transferred to other posts across the naval fleet, including Daring and Dauntless.

US, Royal Navy Hone Battle Skills

In the midst of a full-fledged multinational exercise off the coast of the United Kingdom this May, U.S. Navy and Royal Navy leadership are collaborating with one another to form a stronger joint, allied force for current and future operations at sea.

With seven countries participating in the Joint Warrior 09-1 exercise to hone the battle skills and readiness of allied forces, the American and Royal fleet are learning and drawing from one another's expertise and skill sets.

"We want to help as much as we can, because that strengthens the bond between the U.S. and the Royal Navy, which is historically already unbelievably strong," said Capt. John Kersh, commodore, Commander, Destroyer Squadron 24. "We are teaming with some of our strongest allies and partners so that we can all draw upon these good feelings when we get in theater. It's a very, very positive relationship."

As Joint Warrior takes place in the U.K., Royal Navy officials are visiting the States to learn more about the U.S. Navy's expertise in aircraft carrier-centric operations at Commander, Strike Force Training Atlantic (CSFTL). With the Royal Navy making preparations to add two more aircraft carriers to their fleet, senior leadership is drawing upon U.S. expertise and example in training carriers and associated staffs to successfully fulfill missions abroad.

"Our organization stateside is set up to train an entire strike group and staff, whereas theirs is geared toward training individual ships at higher levels", said Kersh. They can take what they learn from us and apply it to carrier strike group organization, and we learn their individual ship ops expertise and communication styles, in addition to near-land procedures and NATO rules of engagement."

With so much partnered alignment between U.S. and Royal Navy leadership, sharing relative strengths to provide ready, allied maritime forces for global assignment will play a pivotal role in the execution of the American maritime strategy. Multiplatform coalition exercises like Joint Warrior only strengthen the existing teamwork and operational efficiency between the partnered nations.

"It takes a lot of resources to put this coalition-intensive exercise together, sequenced correctly and with so many intricacies involved," said Kersh. "But it's so important because in a real-life, in-theater situation, things could get complicated very quickly if we don't thoroughly understand how our allies operate. Working together so closely beforehand helps to side-step a learning curve; we need to be fully battle-ready together now, not when we get over in theater and it's time to perform."

Joint Warrior is a two-week, multinational training evolution incorporating five U.S. Navy units and a host of allied forces, focusing heavily on strategic training evolutions and strengthening partnerships between NATO members. The exercise also integrates Fleet Irregular Warfare Training (FIWT), placing emphasis on more non-traditional warfare areas like counter-piracy and theater security, in addition to calculated responses to some of the newer emergent threats around the globe.

"Opportunities for us to work with our allies during exercises like JW are vital," said Lt. Cmdr. Dave Jones, weapon engineer officer for the Royal Navy frigate HMS Argyll (F231). "They allow us to practice common procedures at all levels of warfare, from humanitarian aid and enforcing embargoes to high-intensity warfighting. We can meet face to face, talk as one professional mariner to another, and gain a better understanding of each other's cultures and ways of life, strengthening at an individual level the common interests our two nations share."