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News APRIL
Easter holiday extra for our young readers
1999
80p
PLYMOUTH NAVY DAYS
The big move for Sea Harriers page 19
With the Gulf team - pages 21-23
Meet the film stars of Marlborough aid
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THE SHIP'S company of HMS Marlborough take a bow in this shot by LA(PHOT) Chris Brick after the Type 23 frigate had starred in a new, Hollywood-style film. The £2-million, Bond-type adventure movie featured the Royal Navy in a modern-day role of combating piracy on the high seas. Entitled Navy in Action, the
25-minute film was commissioned from BBC Resources by Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust and - and shown in a 275-seat cinema - will form the centrepiece of a CIS-million, interactive development at Portsmouth Historic Dockyard. A 20-strong film crew joined Marlborough for two days during which leading parts were taken by actors.
Earlier, the ship was fulfilling her West Indies guardshlp role by joining the Independence Day ceremony in Grenada and St Lucia. She also checked up on volcano-hit Montserrat where her ship's company helped with community work, including renovation of a police station. Marlborough was due to be In Barbados for Easter.
JACK'S OUT OF THE All sailors to start as ABs
THE RATE of Ordinary Seaman has disappeared from the Royal Navy. The lowest rank in the Service is now that of Able Seaman, effective from April 1. Also out is the new entrant rate of Junior Seaman, as well as the equivalent rates in the Royal Marines and Queen Alexandra's Royal Naval Nursing Service. The Naval Board has approved the move as part of the continuing measures to streamline rank structures and to make them more appropriate for today's Naval Service. Promotion will be based much more on the attainment of skills and experience rather than on age, length of service or specialisation. In a general signal, the Second Sea Lord, Admiral Sir John Brigstocke, said
the three-rank structure below leading rate or RM corporal required little, if any, difference in leadership and management skills, and potentially undermined the purpose of rank in a disciplined organisation. The simplified structure aims to reinforce the authority, leadership and experience of leading hands. Now, the rank of AB will apply, from new entry, to all ratings below leading hand. All Royal Marines below the rank of corporal will be ranked as Marines,
with the exception of lance-corporals who are seen as providing a specific level of leadership and responsibility applicable to a particular job. QARNNS below leading rate will continue to be called Naval Nurses, but will equate to ABs. Pay, based on a points system, is unaffected, and branch and specialist qualification badges will continue to identify AB expertise. Individuals will continue to be addressed as MEM, OM, Mne, Nurse, etc.
RN Tomahawks off Kosovo
WITH NATO air strikes against Serb forces looking likely as Navy News went to press, Defence Secretary George Robertson took the unusual step of confirming the presence In the area of HM submarine Splendid. He said Splendid, which in November conducted the first live firing of a Royal Navy Tomahawk cruise missile, was in the Adriatic and armed with her new weapons. Meanwhile, last-minute diplomatic
efforts were being made in a bid to persuade the Milosevic government in Belgrade to agree to a peaceful settlement of the war in Kosovo. Other British forces in the Adriatic include the Type 23 frigate HMS Iron Duke, while RFAs Sea Centurion and Sea Crusader were ferrying heavy equipment to the British Army battle group standing by in Macedonia for possible peacekeeping duties.
80 YEARS OF NAVY IN CAMERA p17 • MUSEUM OF THE AIR WAVES p32 • MARINES IN ULSTER p10