HMS RICHMOND sailed from Portsmouth on the 10th of February, and is now into the third week of her Armilla Patrol deployment.

The first week was spent making the passage from Portsmouth to Gibraltar. During this time the ship’s company were involved in regular training exercises: including sea-boat handling drills, Lynx helicopter flying serials and weapon based drills in addition to the regular fire-fighting and damage control exercises.

These exercises made for a busy and productive week so the opportunity to take a day off in Gibraltar was enjoyed by all.

The second week built from the first, with additional training being carried out under the supervision of a team from FOST (Flag Officer Sea Training) known affectionately as “wreckers” because of the extensive and complex fire and battle damage control exercises they oversee. The main exercises of the week involved fire-fighting, battle damage control and casualty management in both conventional and non-conventional conflict scenarios.

Ostensibly the week went well, which reflects upon the high levels of determination and professionalism on board. After this hard week’s work the ship’s company were able to enjoy a “Sunday at sea” routine. The morning featured a church service presided over by Lieutenant Thomsen on behalf of the wardroom, followed by RPO Parker’s clay pigeon shoot and in the afternoon all messes provided one or two teams for a flight deck, bucket-ball contest overseen by the “club-swinger” – LPTI Jay Gorton – and his assistants.

The members of 3K mess-deck acquitted themselves very favourably, despite the intimidating tactics employed by the team from the PO’s mess. Following these energetic endeavours the ship’s company enjoyed a day off in Cyprus.

Since then the training serials have become more integrated including the combined manoeuvres of the sea-boats and the helicopter in a “wet winch” drill. This featured the recovery by helicopter of Lt Wagstaff from the Mediterranean Sea, having been “abandoned” there by the boat crews.

We now continue our passage to the Gulf whilst maintaining a busy training programme in readiness for the task ahead.