All part of the job

The Shropshire Star’s Toby Neal goes aboard a UK frigate defending our causes across the world and meets the young men and women aboard.

Now here’s a strange thing. We are in HMS Somerset, a “Duke” class frigate costing something approaching £100 million and equipped with the latest weapons and technology. They are in a glorified speedboat.

And were it not for the fact that it is alien to the tradition of the Royal Navy, you might be forgiven for thinking that HMS Somerset is running away.

She is actually, the commentator tells us, manoeuvring to bring her weapons to bear.

In this new and uncertain world, the most acute hazard to the ships of the Royal Navy is not Russian submarines lurking below, or warships over the horizon, but some zealot in a speedboat packed with explosives, a fanatic on a jetski (or, worse, a dozen fanatics on jetskis all at once), or maybe even somebody flying a microlight wearing an explosive belt.

The jargon is “asymmetric warfare” which means in essence that it doesn’t matter how much you cost and how much weaponry and technology you can boast, some die-hard with an RPG or a suicide bomber on a rowing boat can still ruin your whole day. The lesson was learned when the American destroyer USS Cole was severely damaged when a small boat pulled up alongside and blew up during a refuelling stop in Aden in 2000.

So now, when HMS Somerset leaves Plymouth on its way out to an exercise, a Ministry of Defence police vessel is in the vanguard keeping watch for anything suspicious, and the guns on deck are manned.

I joined HMS Somerset for a “sea day” to show off the capabilities of the modern Royal Navy to the media and assembled guests, including folk as diverse as a careers officer from Leeds, the author Julian Stockwin (he writes seafaring novels), and international dignitaries including representatives from the embassies of China and Russia.

But first we all assembled in a makeshift grandstand to watch Britain’s amphibious forces put through their paces on a small shingly beach at the end a jetty at Devonport naval dockyard. The commentator came out with a surprising piece of information – that 40 per cent of the services in Afghanistan are drawn from the Royal Navy. For the same reason, some elements of the demonstration were missing – the equipment or personnel was out there.

Raiding boats dropped off Marines, landing craft ran up the beach, bangs went off to simulate the battle…

Afterwards we got the chance to chat to those involved. One of them was Marine Daryl Farmer, 21, from Wellington, who has just joined HMS Bulwark – which was moored up around the corner. His job is to drive a JCB digger-like machine and also lay metal tracking so that vehicles don’t get bogged down.

Another of the display team is Bombardier Steve Bailey, 24, from Dawley, who is in 29 Commando Regiment – he is an Army Commando. He runs a 105mm light gun team and will have served seven years in January.

Best experiences?

“Fun-wise would be the America trip. Gunnery-wise, would be Afghanistan. It’s different. You get to do the job you are employed to do – firing the gun when you are being mortared and getting incoming.

“It’s challenging, I would say. Frightening? It is, and it isn’t. If you think about it it probably would be. When you are concentrating on your job, it’s in the back of your mind.”

Afternoon brings embarkation on HMS Somerset and the snaking trip out of Devonport to the open sea, in company with the destroyer HMS Gloucester, and Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel Mounts Bay.

It’s showtime, and the ship’s helicopter lands Marines on a drugs-running small boat, a Merlin helicopter searches for subs, and a clutch of Hawk aircraft simulate an air attack, flying very, very low and roaring overhead. A pair of Harriers, intended to show the navy’s carrier-borne strike capability, skulk by at some distance, as if somebody said something out of turn to the pilots.

There’s a replenishment at sea demonstration alongside RFA Fort Austin, before we are all issued with earplugs. 

A few minutes later the 4.5 inch guns of HMS Gloucester and HMS Somerset open up on a target 10 miles away (at £1,000 a shot). Oddly, I seem to be alone in wanting to know if they hit it.

“Oh yes, they hit it,” an officer told me. “They always do.”

Then it’s time to see a bit of HMS Somerset herself. It’s a warren of corridors, stairs, hatches, and hazards – chiefly banging your head or tripping. The heart of the fighting ship is the operations room, full of screens and hi-tech equipment.

As we explore the ship, one thing is apparent in this 90th anniversary of the Armistice.

For all the changes in weaponry and technology over nine decades, one thing hasn’t changed – those who are called on to do the fighting are very young.