Royal Navy patrol ship HMS Tamar is ready to resume front-line Pacific patrols after completing her regeneration in Australia.
Ten tense – and intense – days of training and assurance resulted in a thumbs-up for the crew, who will now prepare for the next phase of their lengthy deployment: patrolling the South Pacific islands.
An expert team of assessors flew out from the UK to ensure both the ship and the 55 men and women who operate her are up to the rigours of taking a warship to sea more than 9,000 miles from her home base of Portsmouth.
With the Navy increasingly deploying ships for extended periods around the globe and frequent rotation of crews, the assessment by Plymouth-based Fleet Operational Standards and Training (FOST) organisation deploys specialist teams around the world to deliver it when and where it’s needed.
Two dozen instructors and assessors – medics, engineers, warfare specialists, logisticians and communicators – arrived in Cairns in north-eastern Australia, a port which has become a second home to HMS Tamar while she’s been operating in the South Pacific region.
They squeezed 72 training serials into ten days, covering every imaginable action, operation and emergency the ship may face.
The visit quickly switched from scrutinising equipment, engineering standards and records to practical exercises of increasing complexity and scale so the ship and her crew can rapidly adapt and overcome whatever the vast Pacific region has in store.
“I am so proud of what we do at FOST Ships, helping ships improve their performance and help sailors develop and excel,” said Commander Philip Blakeman, the leader of the team assuring HMS Tamar.
“It’s a team effort: the professionalism and effort of the crews we train is the essential building block for FOST to be able to develop high performance teams.”
From small fires to significant flooding, defending the ship from attack, as well as defence engagement, boarding and gunnery training to prepare for the mission in the region.
Among those passing judgment on Tamar’s sailors was Lieutenant Commander Jackson Miller, a Royal Australian Navy exchange officer, who has previously been based at HMAS Cairns, assessing the team on the bridge for the navigational and ship handling skills.
“I am one of many exchange officers shared between the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Navy, it has been a great experience so far,” Jackson said.
“I did not expect to be back in Australia so soon, although it is a nice escape from winter in the United Kingdom!”
Seaman specialist Able Rate Alexander Mansfield was among those being assessed: “It has been my first time going through FOST, and it has been a challenge but I feel I have developed so much as a sailor, with the training staff helping me achieve my potential, and looking back I enjoyed it!”
The final exercise scenario saw the ship dealing with widespread damage, stressing all parts of the crew from the bridge to the bilge, with the crew’s efforts ensuring Tamar could float, move and fight.
“FOST have delivered a tough but rewarding training package for the ship, which has helped us improve our overall performance and ensure our readiness for future tasking,” said Tamar’s Commanding Officer Commander Tom Lindsey.
“We have all benefitted from being tested as a team and we say goodbye to FOST confident that we have met the most demanding training standards that any warship can be put through.
“The thoroughness and professionalism of the staff were only matched by the enthusiasm and fighting spirit of my own ship’s company who are now more ready than ever to carry on our mission, wherever that takes us across the Indo-Pacific.”
Image provided by Royal Navy
