During this week the pace of training is stepped up. Monday saw the week start with a collection of Air Defence, Gunnery and Anti-Submarine Exercises which were all designed to test the ship in the three disciplines of Air, Surface and Underwater warfare.

Tuesday and Wednesday saw the ship continuing to train in individual disciplines in relatively straightforward evolutions.

Thursday is always a special day in the FOST weekly calendar and is known as Weekly War Day. On this day every week all the ships that are undertaking training take part in a simulated war scenario. The ship goes to action stations (see below) and fights its way through simulated attacks from outside forces whilst containing internal damage incidents.

It is an extremely tiring and realistic day which is also a most rewarding day when a ship and her crew realise what they are capable of in a genuinely realistic scenario.

Action Stations – The highest state of readiness that the ship can achieve. All positions within the ship are manned, all equipment and weapons are at immediate notice. This state is only ordered when action, whether offensive or defensive is imminent.

Friday and the end of the week saw RICHMOND conducting a Disaster Relief Exercise. In this situation the ship is directed to supply relief aid to a community that has been devastated by a hurricane.

A scenario that many RN warships have found themselves in on many occasions. The aim is to provide humanitarian relief and provides the ship with an opportunity to demonstrate that they are well equipped to provide aid wherever they may be required to around the world.

On completion the ship returned alongside and was able to give weekend leave to a good majority of the people onboard.

Third sea week 28 Oct – 1 Nov

This week whilst continuing to test individual department skills also saw the introduction of whole ship activities which included Replenishments at Sea (RAS) and a TOWEX where Richmond was tasked to help a stricken vessel and take her under tow. This is a very demanding and labour intensive exercise, which requires the whole of the ship to work as one team to achieve the aim.

As the week continued a noticeable shift could be seen and felt around the ship. After many tiring and demanding days the sense of achievement and team spirit could be felt in all areas around the Ship. This building of team spirit and confidence in ability is one of the fundamental cornerstones of FOST training.

It is plainly obvious at the end of week 4 that Richmond is gaining valuable lessons that will place her in a high state of operational readiness. She will return from training well prepared and ready to deploy anywhere in the world in support of the aims and objectives of the United Kingdoms Government.