MORE than three decades after she echoed regularly with the cries and commands of sailors, life was breathed into HMS Cavalier once again by men of the sea.

Reservists took over the wartime destroyer, today a museum at Chatham Historic Dockyard, for a weekend of training and exercises which will help them relieve the burden upon their full-time counterparts.

More than 30 members of the General Service Seaman Reserve – a mixture of rookies and veterans of conflicts in the Gulf and Falklands – used Cavalier as a ‘realistic working environment’ to learn skills from basic seamanship to ship protection.

The GSSR branch has been formed to bolster protection for RN and RFA ships in foreign ports – and to make life slightly easier for ship’s companies.

Many sailors do not enjoy the full benefits of a port visit because they are on duty guarding their vessel, hence the idea of flying
The first successful deployment of GSSR sailors took place in the Gulf last autumn when a dozen reservists joined HMS Kent during a two-week stay in Dubai.

Classroom education and a recruitment event was held at the Chatham Tender Unit in nearby Brompton Barracks, home to the Royal Engineers and the Medway division of HMS President, London’s RNR unit.

The weekend culminated aboard Cavalier with individual weapons tests and baton training.

“It was great to practise our skills on a warship – albeit an old one,” said AB Aitchison, a marine insurance claims adjuster by day.

AB Jones, a civil servant, added: “I found it a useful training exercise and an excellent team-building weeked – with a decent run ashore.”
Falklands veteran Lt Roy Malkin, Officer in Charge of HMS President’s Medway satellite unit, said the giving the part-time sailors the sense of working on a genuine warship had proved to be extremely worthwhile.

“Our General Service seamen have to be trained to provide ship protection in all kinds of environments and – despite her age – Cavalier provides an excellent training facility as it allows our trainees to re-assess and constantly adapt their tactics, reacting to unusual and unfamiliar situations.”

Cavalier served in the RN between late 1944 and the summer of 1972.

Her career as a museum piece has been nomadic to say the least.
Southampton, Brighton and Tyneside all attempted to make the wartime destroyer a viable proposition as a visitor attraction before Cavalier found a permanent home in Chatham.