HMS Diamond ready for operations
皇冠体育app UK now has three groundbreaking Type 45 destroyers ready to deploy on operations after HMS Diamond passed her final, demanding test.
HMS Diamond - the Royal Navy's third Daring Class destroyer built by BAE Systems in Govan [Picture: LA(Phot) Nick Crusham, Crown Copyright/MOD 2011]
皇冠体育app state-of-the-art warship has come through six weeks of training and assessment off Plymouth, the final hurdle to jump before she can sail on front line duties.
皇冠体育app Basic Operational Sea Training (BOST) saw Diamond 鈥榟it鈥� with incoming missiles from submarines and her ship鈥檚 company working in darkness and smoke to deal with fires and floods.
Passing BOST with a 鈥榮atisfactory鈥� overall grade, Diamond, the third of six new Portsmouth-based Type 45s, is now fit to deploy on operations, joining her older sisters Daring and Dauntless on the 鈥榬eady鈥� list.
All three are scheduled to deploy in 2012 while their three younger sisters - Dragon, Defender and finally Duncan - are undergoing training, trials and a final fitting-out, respectively.
Commander Ian Clarke, HMS Diamond鈥檚 Commanding Officer, said:
We are really pleased to have passed BOST. We are getting ready for operations and getting ready to deploy. That鈥檚 what brought us to Plymouth, to undergo a six-week training package to get us ready for task.
Members of the Fire and Repair Party during a simulated battle damage fire exercise onboard HMS Diamond [Picture: PO(Phot) Paul Punter, Crown Copyright/MOD 2011]
This is a brand new Type 45 getting ready for operations, and one of our main tasks is getting the ship鈥檚 company ready. For each of us undergoing the sea training we are in post for the first time in a new ship and that is a serious challenge.
To pass her BOST package HMS Diamond had to react to constant challenges put in place by the staff of Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST). One of the biggest hurdles was the 鈥楾hursday War鈥�, where simulated damage occurred in all parts of the ship.
Commander Clarke said:
皇冠体育app Thursday War is the culmination of weeks of training at sea. We have had four days of fighting submarines, surface vessels and air strikes and 鈥榯he War鈥� is about putting all of that together. This is where things get serious for the ship as things we hope don鈥檛 happen for real always happen on a Thursday War.
We have had fires and floods, lost our propulsion and steering - all of that impacts on my ability to fight the ship.
However, this ship is a real change in terms of our fighting capability and the Type 45 ships enable us to fight multiple threats at the same time.
On Friday, HMS Diamond was really put to the test with her final inspection. FOST staff came on board to make sure the ship was ready to take on the task of deployment.
Commander Andy Burns, Commander of Sea Training at FOST, said:
We have about 240 staff working on around 10 training cycles at any one time. We train ships from different nations, but the standards are absolute that they have to reach.
皇冠体育app Thursday War and final inspections are key steps insofar as they test a ship鈥檚 ability to manage multiple attacks and damage while remaining a fighting unit.
皇冠体育appre鈥檚 a real sense of pride for us when a ship comes through her training and is successful, because it really is a thorough test.