TOUGH TEST Future navigators tested to the limit on HMS Severn in the waterways around Scotland, Northern Island and the Orkney Islands.
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AILORS who will guide the Royal Navy’s biggest ships through the most challenging waters have been tested aboard HMS Severn. The Portsmouth-based warship took navigators hoping to serve aboard carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales – or pass on their valuable skills and experience to a new generation of sailors – through challenging training in the narrow waterways around Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Orkney Islands. Students on the Specialist Navigator Course spend eight weeks in the classroom and two weeks at sea with HMS Severn. Routinely deprived of technology to assist them – like GPS, gyro and radar – the students were tasked with guiding patrol ship Severn and a mock task group through dangerous waters. The course trains navigators to the highest degree the Royal Navy can. It pushes students’ mental capacity and situational awareness to the extreme, making sure they can easily handle the most difficult waters around the world. “Training the very highest standards of navigation for the Royal Navy’s premier navigation course isn’t easy, but it gives the service a battlewinning edge,” said Commander Phil Harper, Commanding Officer of HMS Severn, who has previously completed the course and passed on some sound advice to the student during their training. “This has been a stunning professional highlight for the ship and for me personally.” Severn steamed at high speed throughout the highlands and islands of Scotland, the Orkneys and off the coast of Northern Ireland. At times the weather encountered was appalling, with the wind over the deck reaching as high as 78 knots and turbulent seas to match. This added to the challenge for the student navigators who had to plan and execute some highly complex navigation for a ghost task group consisting of Severn and up to three imaginary consorts. The weather calmed for the second week and the highland scenery could be fully appreciated, although not for the students, who were being tested relentlessly. During the course, Severn charted a course around the isles of Mull, Bute, Arran and Skye. In the Orkney Islands, home of the Grand Fleet in the Great War and the Home Fleet in the Second World War, Severn paid her respects to HMS Royal Oak – the battleship torpedoed at anchor in Scapa Flow by a German submarine in 1939, killing 835 people – all while conducting high-speed runs. In the Kyle of Lochalsh and Kyle Rhea she encountered treacherous tidal streams when surrounded by imposing mountains and in Loch Fyne she exchanged waves with some friendly otters. As soon as the specialist navigators had completed their time aboard Severn took more students aboard, this time for the general Fleet Navigating Officers’ course.
NAVS: HMS Severn’s Navigating Officer Lieutenant Roddy Hartridge shows students how to take a horizontal sextant angle
BUTE DAY: Looking back down Inchmarnock Sound off the Isle of Bute in Scotland
GETTING STUCK IN: Student navigators learn techniques on Severn’s Flying Bridge
WE’RE RECRUITING THE RECRUITERS A career in the Royal Navy was a career like no other. A job where no two days were the same, where you challenged yourself and solved problems on the go. Plus, you got to travel the world, all while helping those in need. Now, you have the chance to become the person that gives a whole new generation the chances you’ve had. Become a Careers Adviser.
• Starting salary £32,000 • Opportunity to rise to £45,000 • Positions nationwide as full time reserve service
• Open to RN Service leavers and those who’ve left the service in the last three years • Positions for WOs, Senior Rates, SNCOs, LHs and CPLs
For information: PSTN 01929 403172 | Mil 94374 3172 | Email: navycnr-rnsrtrainingassist@mod.gov.uk
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