MILESTONE AS HMS CALLIOPE LAUNCHES NEW BOATS

ROYAL Navy reservists at HMS Calliope marked a milestone as the unit’s new RHIBs took to the water for the first time.

The rigid hulled inflatable boats were lowered into Royal Quays Marina near the mouth of the River Tyne and taken eight miles (13km) upriver to Calliope’s headquarters at Gateshead.

The new boats are part of the Maritime Reserves’ transformation to better support the Royal Navy, with Calliope, Cambria in Cardiff and Eaglet in Liverpool each receiving two Gemini RHIBs.

The training will be based around the internationally-recognised RYA Powerboat Scheme which includes essential skills of seamanship, navigation and radio communications.

These RHIBs will play a significant part in shaping the future organisation and the future workforce of Maritime Reserves in the North East.

Commander Chris Bovill, CO of HMS Calliope

Calliope’s Commanding Officer, Commander Chris Bovill, said: “This is a significant milestone in delivering maritime capability to the RNR. 

“These RHIBs will play a significant part in shaping the future organisation and the future workforce of Maritime Reserves in the North East at HMS Calliope.”

The RHIBs will be used to train reservists, enabling them to serve at sea with the Royal Navy fleet.

Mental health toolkit rolled out across entire Royal Navy fleet

Every member of the Royal Navy can now boost their mental health and fitness with access to an offline version of the mental health platform HeadFIT.

From:

Ministry of Defence and Johnny Mercer MP

HeadFIT provides round the clock access to self-help tools that can enhance mood, drive and confidence

A CD version of digital content has been distributed across the Royal Navy Fleet, Submarine Service, the Royal Marines and Royal Fleet Auxiliary and will be available for those deployed with Carrier Strike Group 2021 as it sets off across the globe. The offline platform will benefit personnel without internet access on operations.

Designed specifically for the defence

HMS SEVERN PUSHES NAVY’S FUTURE NAVIGATORS ON RIGOROUS TRAINING

Sailors who will guide the Royal Navy’s biggest ships through the most challenging waters have been tested aboard HMS Severn.

The Portsmouth-based warship took navigators hoping to serve aboard carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales – or pass on their valuable skills and experience to a new generation of sailors – through challenging training in the narrow waterways around Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Orkney Islands.

Students on the Specialist Navigator Course

HMS MAGPIE TESTS GROUNDBREAKING SOFTWARE TO RAPIDLY MAP THE SEABED

The Royal Navy has tested cutting-edge software to map the seabed close to shore in hours – not days or weeks.

Survey vessel HMS Magpie was able to chart the waters around Plymouth purely using regular radar installed on shipping the world over and a specialist computer program which measures wave height.

Using that data and information about

ROYAL MARINES TRIAL VIRTUAL REALITY KIT

Royal Marines have trialled the use of virtual reality technology to sharpen combat tactics and techniques.

Marines from 40 Commando’s Alpha Company experimented with the SAF-TAC VR training programme developed by SimCentric, which is able to take commandos into challenging virtual combat scenarios around the world at the press of a button.

The immersive software creates an artificial

ROYAL NAVY TRACKS SURFACED RUSSIAN SUBMARINE IN WATERS CLOSE TO THE UK

Royal Navy patrol ship HMS Mersey has tracked the movements of a surfaced Russian submarine as it sailed through waters close to the UK.

Photo Credit: Royal Navy

The River-class offshore patrol vessel was on watch as the Kilo-class diesel powered attack submarine RFS Rostov Na Donu sailed through wintry seas in the North Sea and English Channel on its journey from the Baltic to the Mediterranean. 

Mersey reported on the movements of the

WRECK OF WORLD WAR ONE SHIP HMS CASSANDRA SURVEYED BY HMS ECHO

Sailors on HMS Echo paid their respects to those lost when cruiser HMS Cassandra sank in the turbulent aftermath of the Great War.

The Devonport-based survey ship spent the beginning of the year on operations in the Baltic and took some time to investigate several wrecks in the region.

One of those was C-Class cruiser HMS Cassandra which was lost on December 5 1918. Using Echo’s multibeam echo sounder, her sailors were able to get imagery of Cassandra lying on her starboard side with approximately 20 metres of her bow section missing.

Conditions meant the sensor’s imagery

ROYAL NAVY SAILORS MAKE HISTORY ON WINTER MISSION TO ARCTIC

Two Royal Navy officers sailed closer to the top of the world in winter than any other Britons on a scientific mission in the Polar Night.

Lieutenants Jacob Stein and Max Friswell came within about 1,200 miles from the North Pole after punching through ice more than six feet thick aboard the US Coast Guard cutter Polar Star.

The pair, who normally serve as warfare

Defence Secretary opens £70-million British Army facility in Kenya

The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) has delivered a new headquarters and training facility at Laikipia Air Base East in Kenya.

From:

Defence Infrastructure Organisation and Ministry of Defence

Secretary of State for Defence, Ben Wallace MP and Ambassador Dr Monica Juma, Cabinet Secretary for Defence for the Republic of Kenya, opening Nyati Barracks. MOD Crown Copyright 2021.

Nyati Barracks, a £70-million facility, was built for the British Army Training Unit Kenya (BATUK) to replace their previous infrastructure.

Facilities at the new site include a new training

HMS SPEY DEBUTS AT SEA UNDER THE WHITE ENSIGN

Photo Credit: Royal Navy

A first venture into the Solent marks the debut of HMS Spey under the White Ensign, beginning the journey to joining her sisters as fully-fledged members of the Overseas Patrol Squadron.

Her Ready for Sea Date inspection was recently passed, allowing Commanding Officer Ben Evans to take the 90-metre patrol vessel out for the start of the next phase of tests, trials and training.

He said: “The ship’s company and I have

PRAISE FROM NHS FOR SAILORS AND MARINES HELPING IN SOMERSET’S HOSPITALS

Photo Credit: Royal Navy

Sailors and Royal Marines have been singled out by hospital bosses in Somerset for helping out in the town’s hospital during the pandemic.

A team of 20 military personnel – drawn from nearby RNAS Yeovilton and RM Chivenor in North Devon – have been helping to alleviate the burden on NHS staff over the past few weeks with the Covid pandemic at its peak.

They’ve been awarded the ‘Somerset Star’ for their efforts – presented each month by the NHS Foundation to the stand-out member of staff or volunteer(s).

A mixiblob of RN/RM personnel (the former

RFA OFFICER’S PRESTIGIOUS AWARD FOR DISASTER-RELIEF WORK

Photo Credit: Royal Navy

A RFA officer has received a prestigious award for his outstanding work on disaster-relief operations in the Bahamas.

First Officer (LS) Mike Tyndell shared the James Coull Memorial Award with colleague First Officer (E) Michael Hontoir for their efforts while serving in RFA Mounts Bay during Operation Barytone, the disaster-relief operation following the devastation caused by Hurricane Dorian in 2019.

1/O Tyndell, who received the award aboard

HMS PROTECTOR ‘BREAKS THE ICE’ WITH SIR DAVID ATTENBOROUGH IN SHIPS’ FIRST ENCOUNTER

Photo Credit: Royal Navy

Two of the UK’s Antarctic research ships ‘broke the ice’ when HMS Protector and Sir David Attenborough met up at sea for the first time.

The icebreakers – operated by the Royal Navy and the British Antarctic Survey – sailed in company in the English Channel off Start Point in Devon as both gear up for missions around the frozen continent.

Protector has just emerged from the

NAVY HELP REMOVE ICONIC AIRCRAFT AT HOME OF F-35B STRIKE FIGHTERS

ROYAL Navy aircraft recovery specialists helped to remove a Cold War-era bomber aircraft from RAF Marham in Nofolk.

Personnel from the Joint Aircraft Recovery and Transportation Squadron – JARTS – were called in to take down the Victor gate guardian aircraft, which was in a poor state.

The 35-metre long aircraft, produced by Handley Page, was a jet-engined strategic bomber, which had a crew of five and served as Britain’s nuclear deterrent until 1968. The aircraft was the third and final V-bomber to be operated by the RAF.

Converted to tankers, in 1982 Victor aircraft

Royal Navy seizes £11 million worth of drugs in Arabian Sea

Royal Marines supported by the Royal Navy Warship HMS Montrose have intercepted over 2.6 tonnes of illicit drugs.

From:

Ministry of Defence and James Heappey MP

Royal Marines and sailors stand around the confiscated 2.4 tonnes of drugs (MoD Crown Copyright).

Royal Marines from HMS Montrose, part of a Combined Maritime Forces Task Force in the Middle East, boarded a suspect boat in the Northern Arabian Sea while on a counter-narcotics patrol.

In an operation lasting over 10 hours, 2.4 tonnes of heroin, crystal methamphetamine and hashish were seized. This came just two days after a separate bust in which HMS Montrose seized 275kg of heroin from another suspect boat in the area. The combined haul of almost three tonnes of drugs has an estimated wholesale value of £11 million.

The operations have prevented large amounts

NAVAL RESERVISTS HELP MANCHESTER’S FIGHT AGAINST COVID

 A dozen reservist sailors and Royal Marines are helping nearly a quarter of a million people in Manchester fight Covid.

More than 80 reserve personnel from across the three Services have been committed across the metropolitan area which includes major towns such as Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport and Wigan, plus the cities of Manchester and Salford – a population of 2.8 million in all.

The reservists are working side-by-side with regular British Army units – in the maritime reservists’ case, in the borough of Trafford in southwest Manchester, home to nearly 240,000 people across communities including Stretford, Old Trafford, Sale and Altrincham.

The sailors and commandos have been integrated into Waterloo Company, 4th Battalion Royal Regiment of Scotland, testing at-risk members of the community.

The military teams are carrying out asymptomatic testing – for people who are not displaying signs of the virus – and training each borough’s own workforce to develop testing capability for the longer-term.

Being tested can be intimidating and daunting for some people. We settle them down, break the ice a little bit, a bit of Bootneck humour – people love it.

Mne Ross Cooney

“I was fortunate last year to be part of the mobilisation to help with this and to be able to do it again has been very rewarding,” said Marine Ross Cooney from Doncaster. He owns a performance and consultancy business – and volunteers with Royal Marines Merseyside.

“Being tested can be intimidating and daunting for some people. We settle them down, break the ice a little bit, a bit of Bootneck humour – people love it. We also reassure people – they are happy when they leave.”

Former full-time warfare officer Lieutenant Kevin Cabra-Netherton now runs an award-winning travel business for backpackers as well as volunteers with Leeds RNR unit HMS Ceres.

“On an operation like this, it doesn’t matter what background you are from, we are all doing the same job and working towards the same goal. We’re all in it together,” he said.

“We’ve had a really positive reaction from the public – I think they are reassured and it’s nice to get that sort of a reaction.”

They’ve found working alongside fellow reservists and regular personnel has gone well – “with a bit of banter,” said Ross.

“The great thing about the Reserves is that we are able to manage our time really well and bring our experiences outside of the military. It’s also great working alongside the regulars.”

The Reserves force will be on task until February 26.