At Sea Again.

Well, blogger's, we're at sea again, if only for a couple of days. We've had two days in Souda Bay, Crete. And to be honest, it wasn't that great. The weather was like England in the autumn. We had a sports afternoon on the 29th and the ships teams had a bit of training and we also had a knock around five-a-side tournament between the messdecks. The girlie's have finally decided that they would like to do some sport so they've got themselves a netball team together. Their first match is against the R.A.F when we get to Limassol (not sure of the spelling), The lads have got a rugby and football team together but I'm not sure when they are playing. They did have a match whilst we were in Gibraltar, which i forgot to mention. They played HMS Edinburgh and won 4-3. With regard to the five-a-side, even i played in that!!! although i was only in goal. We won the plate final. Once all the sport had finished, we returned on board to get showered and changed and a few of us from my mess went into Chania. We had a meal in a restaurant on the marina, which I'd done a couple of years ago whilst i was here. It was a different restaurant, and the food was awful!!! I ended up paying 35 euro's for a starter, main course and about 3/4 of a bottle of wine, which, incidentally tasted like vinegar. We'd got sat down and ordered at about 1930/1945. The last bus left to get back to the ship at 2200, because leave expired at 2359, yes we do have a curfew in certain places. But i digress, we still hadn't received our main course at 2140! so we were starting to get a bit edgy. A couple of us were already socially confused and not appreciating the delay. To be honest, neither could we as the restaurant was empty apart from one other table of four, and ours, we had about 10-12 people at ours. Well, anyway, we managed to get back just in time to get the bus, but a couple of lads decided that they'd stay out and get a taxi back a little later. They were adrift of the 2359 curfew and will now not be allowed ashore in Limassol. Yesterday we had a normal working day, which, buy the way, is eight in the morning until four in the afternoon. We were granted leave, but weren't allowed off base!! A lot of people weren't very happy about this, but hey, never mind, get over it. I did, i went to bed quite early after watching the newest installment of Indiana Jones. Well, today, we've been doing some trials and things on our radars and things so that's kept us quite busy, and we continue our transit to Limassol. Speak to you all soon.

Souda Bay - Crete

Morning all. Well it's 0850 local time and we've just tied up alongside the NATO jetty in Souda Bay. We have a lot of work to do over the next few days. So i don't know when I'll be blogging again. We had another normal day yesterday, with one exception. We had a smoke alarm go off in the AVCAT pump space. AVCAT is AViation CATegory fuel. I'd literally just got out of the shower and was soaking wet when the alarm was raised. Now if you remember back to one of my first entries, i told you all that I am the support team leader, who gets dressed in full firefighting rig. Well, i had to sling my overalls on and head up the ladder, my bed is right above the AVCAT pump space, and aft to the FRPP (Fire Repair Party Post) to where all my gear is and get dressed. Luckily it was a spurious alarm and there was no danger. But I now needed another shower.......greeeeaat!!!! Well that's all for now, I'll be back soon. Take care.

Same stuff differant day!!

Hiya all. We've now been away nine days and to me it seems like a month already. We had another Mini-Gun and GPMG shoot yesterday. And myself and one of the lads that work for me, Tommo, went onto the upper deck to clean the Polorus's. These are basically compass's that are positioned in strategic places around the ship. There are two on the bridge wings. One on the port side and one on the starboard side. These are to aid the officer of the watch in his manouvering of the ship and also for the weapons crews stationed on the bridge wings to quickly locate their targets. We also have two polorus's on the GDP (Gunnery Direction Platform). Again these are on the outer extremities of the location where there is somebody closed up to locate the targets and pass it to the weapon director, who then broadcasts the fact over his intercom. We then didn't have a lot to do, however we did do some training with regard to weapon engineering. We worked on what we call TAG-OUT which is a safe system of work to allow you to work on a piece of equipment safely. Basically you isolate the equipment power supplies and then remove the fuses so someone cannot inadvertently turn the equipment on whilst you are working on it. You'd look pretty stupid doing the conga on your own!!! We also located the emergency power cut off switches, just so if you have to work on a live bit of kit, then your safety number, once he's finished laughing at your one man conga, can kill the power and carry out the appropriate action. Changing the subject from work, to play, those of you who know me will be surprised to learn that I actually went and did some fitness last night. Off my own back, with nobody hounding me to do so. I MUST BE ILL. As those who no me will also probably be aware i have a very dodgy knee, the remnants of a motorbike accident when i was seventeen. The fallout from that, I'm now not allowed to do any impact exercise. So my fitness will consist of walking, which I did last night for thirty minutes, and the cross trainer which we have secured in the winch well, a compartment down at the back end of the ship.

Sickening

Morning Blog fans, it's been a couple of days since i last blogged and i can't say it's been easy. I've been trying to get home to see my wife and daughter and in laws after the death of Fred. It's been a struggle on board trying to get the time off. Eventually they agreed, but said that I'd have to pay for my own flights!! Well, i looked into it and I'd only get five days at home anyway and that would be getting back very late on the Thursday and having to depart at 0630 from Luton airport. Not a problem really except that i live in Hull. I've discussed all this with my wife and we've decided that it's not practical. I'm really annoyed that i cannot afford to get back. I wish all the family the best and hope to see you all as soon as i can. To add to all these things that have been going on, I've had a constant headache since we sailed from Gib', i went to see the LMA (Leading Medical Assistant) and she advised me to lay off the Tea, well anyone who knows me, knows that there is more tea in my veins than anything else. I was devastated. So, i had to lay off the tea and drink plenty of water, she thought i was just de-hydrated. Well i did as i was told, but around 1900 i was sitting in the messdeck shivering my bits off. I don't get cold very easily. I went to see the Med' staff again and have been told I've got sinusitis or something like that! either way it hurts. And I've even had the odd blood clot to cough up!! great isn't it!! Speak to you all soon when i've got a little more drama for you!!!!!

Flight Deck Sports

Good afternoon. Well today is Sunday and I thought that I'd take a moment to write a little about what we've been doing today. Well first thing this morning we had a live fire shoot with the GPMG's (General Purpose Machine Gun's) and the Mini-Guns, they fire about 3000 rounds per minute and are absolutely awesome to shoot. We had made a target so we actually had something to aim at and then drove the ship around the target keeping it about 500yds from us. The Captain wanted the emphasis of the shoot on accuracy. And we duly proceeded to nearly obliterate the target. Unfortunately the Mini-Gun had a stoppage and was very difficult to clear so we didn't have many rounds to put through it, we were limited on time so we started robbing rounds from it to put through the GPMG's.
This afternoon, well, now really the ships company are partaking in a great Naval tradition of FD Sports. We are, today, playing bucket-ball. This is a game that is a cross between netball and basketball. You have two teams of five, with one sub'. when the game starts it's like basketball with the tip off. and then it's like netball where, when you get the ball, which is homemade with rags and every sailors favorite, HBM (Harry Black Maskers-black masking tape, to you lot...) you stand still and have to either throw it to a team-mate or shoot for goal. The goalie is stood on a sports mat and has a bucket in his/her hands and has to catch the ball. The goalie cannot jump, step off the mat and must have both feet firmly planted on the mat for the shot to be a legitimate goal. The winner is obviously the team that scores the most goals, the match lasts for approximately three - five minutes. There should be photo's, i asked one of the girls to take a load for me. All the photo's should, hopefully, be uploaded when we reach Bahrain. When that is is another question all together.
On a sadder note, my thoughts and prayers are with my wife, daughter and in laws as they are mourning the loss of a great man, Fred. Who died this morning at 0800hrs. I am trying to return to the U.K to be with my family. This is one of the worst things about being in the armed forces. You're away from home serving your country and things like this happen and it's bloody hard to get back to your loved ones and support them. I'll let you know what happens and if i get back or not. Speak again soon. Take care.

Gibraltar

Hi, Well we've just sailed again. We got into Gib' at about 1000 on the 22nd and had quite a busy day. I had to go up the rock to the ranges because i was out of date for my NAPWT (Naval Annual Personal Weapons Test). There were actually about nine of us that went up there and when we got there, my god what a mess. I don't mean the range, i'm talking weather here. When we pulled into Gib there was low cloud and you couldn't see the top of the Rock. The rain was driving in almost horizontal and was actually very cold. It made shooting very difficult indeed. We persevered though and had finished by about lunch time. We headed back on board and had something to eat and then had to clean the ship because she'd taken such a battering over the previous few days. There was also another reason for this and that is that CINCFLEET (Commander IN Chief FLEET) was visiting us and everything on the upper deck had to be spotless. He sat down with some of the lads and then had a question and answer session. I know of at least two questions that were asked and he knew nothing. Those questions were 1, Will we still be receiving Operational pay after the end of May? (because the British are pulling out of Iraq) and 2, will the lads that have not been to the Gulf before receive their medal? As i said, he doesn't know the answer to those!!! GREAT. So we move onto the night, and what a night. Me and five of may mates really didn't want to go on the sauce so we got a taxi to the marina and had a very nice meal and a few sherbets!! well we'd had such a good meal that we walked back into the main square where our ships company and the Edinburgh's were. I then don't remember how it got so late but ended getting back to the ship around 1am....OOoopps. I have had a bit of a sore head all day!! But there you go. The steak must have been a bit dodgy......
Next stop Souda Bay. Lets hope the weather's better there, and getting there.

Still Rough!

How long can it stay this rough??? Three days now and we still cannot get onto the upper deck to do our maintenance!! I'm not really complaining though, because I have plenty to do below decks. Unfortunately, my compartment is right at the pointy end of the ship, and as i stated in my first entry, I get a little queasy down here!! We still have about 200 miles to run to our first stop, Gibraltar. Every Sailors favourite place!! Well OK, not all. We have about two days there and then we head of east again. But for now we are preparing for what is called the STROG transit! "What the hell is that" I hear you cry. Well, the STROG is the STRaits Of Gibraltar, the bit at the bottom of Spain and the top of Morocco and it's about maybe, ten to fifteen or so miles wide, and makes and ideal place to ambush or attack a ship!! We go through fully ready for almost anything! On a different note we managed to watch the Carling Cup semi-final last night between Spurs and Burnley. What a match, it's just a shame that Burnley got knocked out. We were hoping that the minnows would hold out and do over the yid army, but unfortunately it was not to be. On the bright side though, it's Friday tomorrow, maybe time for a beer or three!!

Harry Roughers!!

Morning all, it's the 3rd day now and guess what? it's still rough. So rough in fact that I'm actually feeling a bit ill. And i haven't been sea sick in the 11 years that I've been in the Navy!!! We didn't get much sleep last night, again. We are heading south through the Bay Of Biscay and there are normally two ways to do this! The first is the Bay is as flat and calm as a sheet of glass, whereas the second is what we are experiencing now. Rough as a badgers bum!!! Before changing course yesterday to hopefully get a better, smoother run, we did have one incident, and that was a flood!! This was not a severe as it sounds. We had just had a massive wave swamp the quarter deck (right down at the back of the ship, under the flight deck) and get in through the door, as it wasn't fully clipped shut. The doors have ten to twelve clips on them to make them secure and watertight!!! We got the water cleared away and then changed course to running down sea. This was good because it gave us a smoother run but the course was taking us away from our Navigational Track (navtrack). At about 2200 last night we were so far off course that to reach our next stop on time we had to turn. We did and all hell broke loose. Waves breaking over the forecastle (bows of the ship) had got into the electrics of the main broadcast where our alarms and tannoy is fed from and shorted it out. So, at about 0001 we had our general alarm sounding continuously, until the internal Com's maintainer had got it fixed. When we arose, very bleary eyed this morning the officer of the watch, the guy/girl in charge of driving the ship, gave his morning sit rep (situation report) over the main broadcast. He informed us of what we had heard rumours of already. That was that HMS Edinburgh and Somerset had had incidents in the severe rough weather, and people had ended up in the water. From what we can gather all parties are fine, but it just goes to show that no matter how experienced a seaman/woman you are, if you don't take extreme care in this job, it can turn around and bite you in the arse!! That's all for now, I think i'm actually starting to go green!!

Departure from Portsmouth

On a cold and blustery morning, 180 crew members were anxiously awaiting to "leave the wall" in Portsmouth dockyard and head off for seven and a half months. To places known, and unknown in the same breath. Known, because a lot of the people on here have been out to the Northern Arabian Gulf (NAG) before and know where abouts we shall be stopping and have frequented these places before. The unknown, well, that's because we are going to do a job that many, many people at home and abroad do not understand or even know that we do! The Royal Navy, due to it's very nature seems to get overlooked by the public as a whole and many of us don't really feel that we get the recognition that we feel we deserve.
Right, that's the moaning out of the way, now what i am going to try and do over the next 194 or so days is keep a diary (sort of) with the day to day things that we do on board HMS Richmond. At sea, as we are at the moment, i have no facilities to upload photographs or video. With some of the stops that we get there will, hopefully, be a chance for me to get a connection on my laptop to upload said photo's. So you might have to check back once in a while!!! Well, we departed, as i said, from Portsmouth at 1000 on the 19th January 2009 to head East to the NAG. First day at sea is always a little hectic and when we depart for a 7 month trip we leave in what we call Procedure Alpha. This is all our weapons and sensors uncovered and the crew, who are not on watch in the Operations room, engine rooms or steering the ship on the bridge, are lined up on the side of the ship in our best uniforms ready for departing. Family and friends, and the occasional interested person will gather on round tower and watch the ships leave Portsmouth harbour. For a lot of the younger ones on board it can be a very emotional time, especially if it's their first time away. Anyway, once clear of round tower we fall out of Procedure Alpha and get changed into our working rig and continue with our daily jobs. We had a customary Fire Exercise after only a few hours at sea, just to blow away the cobwebs, as we've been alongside in Portsmouth for Christmas and have not had a full blown fire ex for some time. I am the support team leader, in the event of a fire, my team, myself and for other junior rates get dressed into a full firefighting gear (I'll try to get a picture it's easier than explaining) the exercise went well. The rest of the day passed with no other events of note. At 1730 we had evening rounds. This is where about an hour before, the lads and lasses clean up Mess decks (where we sleep and relax) Heads (toilets) bathrooms (shower/sink area's) and flats (the main thoroughfare between decks). For all you inquisitive people out there, NO we aren't co-ed like the Dutch. Men and women shower separately. Evening Rounds is conducted by the XO (executive officer- second in command of the ship) and he goes around all the mess deck checking cleanliness and securing and generally keeping the junior rates abreast of what we're doing and maintaining morale!!! the rest of the evening is our own, so we played Guitar Heroes on the X-box before going to bed. The night was rough and still is now, i hardly had any sleep last night, so I'm going to try and catch an hour over lunch.