THIS is what the Navy calls ‘a bit sporty’.
Waves crash over the bow of minehunter HMS Brocklesby as she struggles across the Bay of Biscay to take part in NATO exercises.
Hunts are not renowned for their seakeeping and the infamous bay is not renowned for showing clemency to mariners.
Perfect combination, then.
When Brock did complete her passage in company with the rest of NATO’s Standing Mine Countermeasures Group 1, she joined more than 20 vessels from 17 Allied nations on Exercise Noble Mariner.
The two-week international war games are focused on the Strait of Gibraltar – and the ability to keep this vital ‘choke point’ of global maritime trade open in the event of conflict.
For the mine warfare force that meant dealing with a plethora of dummy mines scattered in the waters off southern Spain – and for Portsmouth-based Brocklesby the opening stages of Noble Mariner provided rich pickings: five replica mines found by her diving and ops room teams – more than any other vessel taking part in the exercise.
“The dummy mines are designed to simulate the size and sonar picture of a real mine and so Noble Mariner has been extremely useful in keeping the crew’s skills honed in detecting mines,” said CO Lt Cdr James Byron.
“We have done a lot of this work in the last few months on Joint Warrior in October and during Operational Sea Training in December and so to already have five drill mines on deck shows that this effort has paid off.”
In addition to minehunting, the exercise has seen the Spanish Navy act as ‘bad guys’, using fast patrol boats and helicopters to harass the NATO force.
In Brocklesby’s case, the ship was attacked by a helicopter flying at under 50ft, skimming the wave tops as the Hunt-class ship manoeuvred at top speed (up to 17kts) trying keep her close-range weapons trained.
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