On Monday 9th July nine members of the 1st Bn made their way to Hull Ferry terminal to board HMS York, for a 3 day exhange visit around the North Sea, en route to Den Helder, a Dutch naval port, which was hosting Dutch Navy Day on the Friday.
After initial confusion as to the whereabouts of the Type 42 Destroyer, the intrepid voyagers were met with a warm reception and a cold beer. An initial tour around the accommodation was an eye opener- none of us had expected it to be quite so small, space on board is at an absolute premium, but it is difficult to comprehend living at sea for such long periods in such restricted spaces- 6 PO's (the naval equivalent to WO's) in a room 12'x7' housing bunks and wardrobes.
On Tuesday morning the last of the VIP visitors, including the CO & RSM of 2 Signals Regt, representatives from the Merchant Adventurers of York and the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Yorkshire embarked, and at 0930 we gingerly manoeuvred out of Hull, via a narrow lock system that left little room to spare, with LCpl Roughley and Ptes Lewis and Kellet ably assisting the ships crew with the fending off.
Once out on the Humber we set a course for Sunderland, from whence we would head out across to Holland; and started the first of 2 days of tours of the ships departments from the Engine rooms, the Galley, through to the Missile store and Operations room, with plenty of opportunities to help the crew with their duties. Whilst there is doubt as to whether or not PAX insurance and an FMT 600 covers him to drive Destroyers Capt Wickett took the opportunity to steer the vessel, taking precautions to do so at night, when no one could see how wobbly his steering was.
On Wednesday afternoon, in an impressive display of power the crew took the 3,500t HMS York through a serious of high speed manoeuvres at her full 30 knot top speed, before putting her into full astern in the space of ½ mile, powered by her twin Olympus engines (as found on Concorde!). In the afternoon the ship underwent a serious of electronic simulated air attacks, demonstrating, for the benefit of the visitors, the detection and jamming systems at the crews disposal to deal with such unwanted attentions, before a lone RAF Tornado gave us a flyby on his return from a mock dog fight out over the North Sea.
By Wednesday evening we were most definitely out of shelter of land, and the weather picked up to a lumpy force eight, rendering one (unnamed) member of the party sick as a dog. However, he was in good company, since a number of the crew were also joining him at the metaphoric guardrail. Sleeping was uncomfortable, and Capt Wickett found himself obliged to continue drinking Port with the wardroom in order to wash away the taste of an unusual Naval Tradition- savouries for pudding; in this instance a date wrapped in a fatty piece of bacon, just the thing for settling the stomach!
As Thursday dawned and the sea calmed we could make out a Russian Frigate on the horizon, also bound for Den Helder and Dutch Navy day celebrations. We docked smoothly at lunchtime and then had the afternoon to visit the military displays and assorted Naval vessels from around the world, all open to the large civilian crowds, before disappearing out for the evening to assist the local economy. Come Friday morning we were treated to a demonstration by the Dutch Marines fast roping from a Westland Lynx onto the deck of a frigate, before making our farewells and disembarking for the train station and the journey down to Rotterdam, where we discovered that the ferry sailing was a later one than anticipated, giving time to explore the drinking dens of Rotterdam before returning to the UK (and a five hour wait for the minibus).
This short trip was a great opportunity to gain an insight into the life of our fellow service and certainly brought home the hardships that the crews face on a daily basis, often for months at a time- one can only try to imagine what life must be like for the submariners! Our thanks go to all the Officers and crew of HMS York for their warm hospitality. A superb time was had by all members of 1 PWO.