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Mews SEPTEMBER 1990
20p
FIRST ELEVEN SELECTED AS HEAT IS ON
KEY INC THE Royal Navy is contributing to the multi-national array of warships and supply vessels assembling in response to the Middle Eastern crisis. HUNDREDS of men of the Armilla patrol are geared up both for routine work in the sweltering Gulf heat and for any eventualities. MEANWHILE, other ships have sailed from Britain either for the Gulf region or Eastern Mediterranean.
i Two of the Royal Navy's Armiila patrol, HM ships Jupiter and Battleaxe, head for Gulf duty. Left, ABs Fez Parker and Wrggy Bennett, of the Battleaxe, go through upper deck drills in the Gulf.
Gulf build-up gets moving ELEVEN Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships were committed to Gulf and Eastern Mediterranean duty, some of them already on station and others on passage, as Navy News went to press.
Pictures: PO(Phot) Stuart Antrobus
Already Armilla patrol vessels HM ships York, Battleaxe and Jupiter are serving in the Gulf area, the Type 22 Battleaxe having been called from a visit to Penang, Malaysia, and the Leanderclass Jupiter from a leave period in Mombasa as the Middle ___Âť! Eastern crisis intensified. There was the buzz of activity Meanwhile, three Hunt class vessels, HM ships Cattistock, Hurworth and Atherstone sailed from Rosyth on August 13, initially to serve in the Eastern Mediterranean. Leaving Plymouth late last month was the ocean survey ship HMS Herald, also heading for the Eastern Med., where she will act as support vessel for the ships of the 2nd MCM. In some cases men were recalled from leave, with roundthe-clock working as s h i p s were readied for deployment.
as stores and equipment were loaded and, where necessary, modifications made. Later came emotional farewells as numbers of family members watched ships sail and wished them well. Featuring strongly too in the build-up was the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. Already RFA Orangcleaf was serving in support of the Armilla ships and more arc heading East. The tanker RFA Olna sailed from Dcvonport on August 16, with two Sea King Mark 5s embarked, and several days later the fleet replenishment vessel RFA Fort Grange Turn to back page