Farewell To 'The Mighty'

Yesterday hundreds of people turned out to wave goodbye to the Royal Navy's flagship HMS Ark Royal on her last voyage before being broken up for scrap.

The aircraft carrier, which was formally decommissioned in 2011, was towed out of Portsmouth Harbour watched by a large crowd of silent well-wishers and she sailed by.  She is being towed to Turkey where she will be broken up by a ship recycling company.

A flotilla of small boats sailed with her as she was pulled by tug boats from the harbour.

The 22,000 ton Ark Royal - the fifth Royal Navy ship to bear the name - was launched in 1981 and was known affectionately by her crew as The Mighty Ark.

The decision to scrap the Ark Royal has left the UK without a fully functioning aircraft carrier for nearly ten years until the next generation of carriers come into service.

Retiring her five years earlier than planned was a controversial decision and one which is still disagreeable to many.  As part of a £2.9m deal the Ark Royal will go to the same yard as her sister ship Invincible.

Her last journey would have been a very sad and poignant sight for many naval personnel.

One ex-sailor said he couldn't understand why she hasn't been kept and used as a tourist attraction.  That may have worked well because Britannia, docked at Leith, is now a very profitable business.  However, the powers-that-be decided to rid the UK of a perfectly serviceable ship in order to save money, yet they're happy to spend millions subsidising windmills.

My thanks to JRB for this post. He gave me the motivation.

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And They Never Even Got Their Feet Wet!

Just to get you in the mood for the excesses of the next few weeks.

Although the HMS Ocean has now docked safely in the UK, its crew have been away from family and friends for much of the year. To keep spirits high the Aviation Department made this video.

And they never even got their feet wet (with the exception of the bather)!

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Tranche One Hits The Navy

The former First Sea Lord Admiral Lord West was prominent on the media yesterday when he criticised the decision by the MoD to sack about 350 sailors from the Royal Navy.  These personnel had not applied for redundancy.

A total of about 1020 Navy staff have been told they are being made redundant in the first round of military job losses, a third of them compulsory.  Approximately 810 sailors applied for redundancy but only 670 are being allowed to leave. The Royal Marines are exempt from the current round of redundancies.

Specified naval personnel were instructed to notify those who have been selected for redundancy either face-to-face in their Ship or establishment or where this is not possible, by telephone.  Callously the military are still sacking staff by telephone. The order also stated 'There are a number of people who have today been notified of redundancy who are deployed or serving overseas. Arrangements will be made to return them to the UK in sufficient time to start the resettlement process. Applicants selected for redundancy will serve up to 6-months' notice and the aim is for them to be employed in the UK by 16 December 2011. Non-applicants [those who did not apply for redundancy] will serve up to 12 months notice and the aim is for them to be employed in the UK by 30 June 2012'.

While Liam Fox refuses to take any responsibility for his decision and prefers to blame the redundancies on the ineptitude of the military brass, some sailors deployed in war zones must be feeling distraught knowing that, within a year they will no longer be part of the Navy.

Earlier this month about 920 soldiers and 930 RAF personnel were told they too were being made redundant - 750 of them against their will.

Is it any wonder morale is at an all-time low?

This is only the first round of redundancies within the military.  Tranche 2 is due early in 2012 and there will be two further tranches to be delivered by April 2015.

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The Trials and Tribulations of being a Sailor

The calmness of the lapping waters surrounding the largest and most northerly island in the Inner Hebrides was disturbed this morning.

One report states a Royal Navy nuclear submarine was grounded on rocks just around three miles from the Isle of Skye road bridge with personnel said to have been trapped on board. The Royal Navy said the boat was on silt not rock.

The grounding of the HMS Astute, which cost £1.2 billion, comes at the end of a dire week for the Royal Navy which has seen its carrier force halved, Harrier jump jets axed and warship force reduced by almost a quarter.  The boat, which was handed over to the Navy by its builders BAE Systems in late August.  Hopefully it was re-floated at high tide around 7-o'clock.  It is then to be towed back to its base at Faslane over the course of several days.  It is suggested the boat ran aground outwith the safe sea lane marked on Admiralty charts.  The channel that runs underneath the Skye Bridge has red and green buoys known as lateral markers to ensure vessels do not run aground but HMS Astute appeared to be lying in shallow water several hundred metres beyond that safe route.  The Admiralty charts show submerged rocks in the area where it got into difficulty.

It's not the first time a submarine has grounded in these regional waters; in November 2002 HMS Trafalgar (S107) ran aground close to Skye, causing £5million worth of damage to her hull and injuring three sailors.

The MoD states: 'We are responding to the incident and can confirm that there are no injuries to personnel and the submarine remains watertight.  There is no indication of any environmental impact'.  Make of that what you will.  This blogger has done with an amusing slant.

It is believe the boat was undergoing sea trials as it is not expected to enter service until next year. Would a change of navigator be beneficial or is that done with computer software these days?  It would seem that the reliance is on modern technology.

Back in September the BBC Defence news team reported on how the HMS Astute was in a class of her own.  Today it's bottom of the class.  We've got to be grateful there are no icebergs floating round these waters.

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Royal Navy's Strange Behaviour

The caption for the above picture is 'Are Navy Officer's hands tied when it comes to pirates?' You decide.

Suspected Somali pirates captured by the Royal Navy are being given fuel, food and water and sent on their way. In three cases they were released even though hostages had been found on board their vessels.

This information was revealed on Tuesday by Defence Minister Baroness Taylor who said there had been four instances in the last year when heavily armed gangs, operating off Somalia, had been given supplies on humanitarian grounds. None of the 66 suspects captured by the Navy in the last year has been taken into custody.

The publisher of Warship World magazine, Mike Critchley, said: "I feel pretty sorry for Navy officers these days who have to phone a lawyer in London before they are allowed to do anything.

"In the old days the captain would have been told to just go and sort it out.

"I am sure that word will soon get around the pirate community that even if you run out of fuel 200 miles off shore a large grey vessel will come and help you on your way."

Former Tory chairman Lord Tebbit, who has tabled a series of Parliamentary questions on the issue, said ministers had indicated privately that suspected pirates were not being arrested because of fears they might claim asylum in the UK. He also stated the Navy appeared to be hamstrung by the 'morass of human rights laws and political correctness'.

In November it emerged that the crew of RFA Wave Knight had looked on as pirates kidnapped the Chandlers of Tunbridge Wells, from their yacht near the Seychelles. I have little sympathy with the Chandlers because they were completely foolhardy. They refused to acknowledge advice from other British yachts that they should join with others to sail through this area. Regardless, help should have been given from the Royal Navy but it appears their hands were tied.

The Ministry of Defence initially tried to cover up the ship's role but it later admitted it had been on the scene. It said the ship had not opened fire for fear the Chandlers could have been shot.

What's happening to our Navy? Is Norman Tebbit right in saying they're hamstrung by The Human Rights Act? Or is this a deliberate attempt to reduce its effectiveness then amalgamate it with the army or RAF?

Our sailors deserve far better than this from our political leaders.

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