Opportunities
| March. |
10/11 - C3I 071. |
| April |
20 to May 4 - NW 071.
28/29 - Nimrod Sortie 071. |
| May |
7 to 20 - Noble Mariner 07.
27 to June 1 - LHQC (1
Week Equipment Course - Raleigh). |
| June |
6 to 20 - Steadfast Jackpot 07.
23/24 - Triton Warrior
071. |
July
|
7/8 - C3I 072.
|
August
|
10/19 - CPX 07.
|
| September |
15 to 29 - NW 072 .
28 to October 12 Noble Midas
07.
22/23 - Nimrod Sortie 072. |
October
|
6/7 - Triton Warrior 072.
|
November
|
24/25 - C3I 073.
|
March
|
08 8/9 - C3I 081.
|
Management Structure. The diagram below denotes the
current SM OPS management structure. It should be noted that Lt Sims is due to
be promoted in March, and therefore a replacement is sought.
|
Welcome. At a meeting held at HMS
Collingwood in early December 06 attended by Cdr Chris Hardinge, Lt-Cdr Simon
Haffenden, Lt-Cdr Steve Hoyle, CPO's Darby Allen, George Moody, Shaun Pennicott
and Elsie Tanner, it was decide that to aid communication and to improve the
dissemination of information, a monthly newsletter would be produced. So here
is the first one. We hope to use this newsletter as a vehicle to ensure that
all members of the RNR Submarine Communications Sub-specilisation are kept up
to date with all activities that are happening in the specilisation. This will
include changes to Task Books, Training, Policy, and future Training and
Operational opportunities. Everyone is encouraged to contribute, so if you have
something to say, which is printable!, please drop me (Elsie Tanner) an email.
Training. One of
the big issues is of course Task Books, not so much a task as a burden!. It is
fully understood that the current Task Books do not do the job and whilst new
ones have been promised for some time, there is a major incentive to produce a
revised set. Darby Allen has the lead on producing these. He is currently
concentrating on producing a new AB1 to LH Task Book. This will be followed by
AB2 to AB1 and then LH to PO. It should be understood that producing new task
books is a major undertaking. As well as developing the task books, you also
have to develop the supporting training documentation and a Professional
Qualifying Course in order to demonstrate that individuals have attained a
required standard. This brings me very nicely to the subject of LH Qualifying
Courses. It is recognised that a LHQC course has not been run for several
years. This is partly due to the changes in the way the RNR select people for
promotion. The policy is to SELECT, TRAIN and PROMOTE, and if no one has been
selected for promotion then qualifying courses will not be run. With this in
mind we need Divisional Officers to ensure that all those who are eligible and
recommended for promotion have been selected.
Regionalisation.Seems to be
everyone's pet theme at the moment so why should we be different. Some units do
not have Senior SM Comms Ratings, which could be hindering the development of
Junior Ratings. Therefore it has been decided to provide each region with a
Senior Rate who will be responsible for the development of JR's in their
individual region. Big George Moody has the North (Caroline, Dalriada, Scotia
and Calliope), the South East (King Alfred, President and Wildfire) is Shaun's
area, the Midlands (Sherwood, Forward and Eaglet) have drawn the short straw
with Darbs, and I will be covering the South West (Cambria, Vivid and Flying
Fox). Management Structure. The diagram below denotes the current SM OPS
management structure. It should be noted that Lt Sims is due to be promoted in
March, and therefore a replacement is sought.
Merwex.. In case some of you
might have forgotten, MERWEXs are still run every month and we would very much
like to see more JR's attending. There is a move a foot to change the training
available at MERWEXs. Watch this space. BR60A is to be reviewed. More on this
and its effects in the next issue.
BR60A is
to be reviewed. More on this and its effects in the next issue.
Robbie, SAT on the Mahan! On
October 26th 2006 I deployed to the American destroyer USS Mahan as
communications senior rate of the Submarine Advisory Team (SAT) in support of
Exercise Neptune Warrior 06/3. Along with Lt Tom Knowles from the SM Ops
Specialisation, I was ferried by helicopter from Plockton airfield near the
Isle of Skye to Mahan, which was operating in the Minches. Once onboard the
Submarine Element Co-ordinator (SEC), CDR Hardinge, briefed us on the aims of
this SAT. We were to take HMS Torbay in directsupport for two days from
Saturday 28th October. This meant proving various circuits with Torbay in order
that direct support could be successfully achieved. In this case we had been
allocated a UHF satcom channel as well as HF voice and RATT circuits. Liaising
with the ships communications staff over the next thirty-six hours enabled us
to be in a position to communicate with Torbay when she returned to periscope
depth (PD) during her broadcast routine. Unfortunately, we were unable to
establish comms with Torbay on the satellite channel due to equipment problems.
HF comms also initially proved to be unsuccessful. The ship's staff and I
(after some trouble-shooting) realised that this was due to he wrong dial set
frequency being programmed into Mahan's HF transmitters and receivers. This was
rapidly rectified and when Torbay returned to PD later that day we were able to
establish good HF comms with her. This enabled the SEC to task the submarine
for the period of direct support. My subsequent role primarily consisted of
listening out for Torbay on the HF circuits and passing any further tasking to
her. After five days our work was complete, and with the submarine returned to
national Tacom we were returned to Plockton by helo and then on to Faslane by
road for a de-brief by JMOTS staff. Serving on a SAT team is the most
interesting part.
|
