Navy News - Ships of the Royal Navy - HMS Richmond

08 September 2008

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Questions and Answers

Here is where you get to put your questions to the crew of HMS Richmond. See below for the Questions so far.

If you would like to contact HMS Richmond directly, email us and we will forward it for you. Please send all Emails to support@navynews.co.uk

I have just had my first interview with the Royal Navy for the position of Officer and they are preparing me for the Admiralty Interview Board. I am really pleased and was wondering if the Warfare Officer or Officers could give me some information into what their daily routine involves, what the job is like, is it a good career and what does it demand from you. Caroline

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I would like to join the Navy and was wondering what's it like to be a Fighter Control Officer? Danielle, 14

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What sort of menus do you have? and are any fancy foods allowed?

HMS Richmond has an extensive and varied menu. Looking at today's menu, if you were really hungry you could start your day with a yoghurt, followed by a full English breakfast, or you could have toast and cereal. For lunch you could choose either a tuna/pasta bake or a chicken burger with chips. Alternatively you could have a salad followed by fresh fruit.

For dinner you could choose between lasagne and garlic bread or southern fried chicken. With either of these choices you could have roasted or macaire potatoes (like small potato cakes) with broccoli and carrots. For dessert you could tuck into apple and cinnamon crumple with custard.

As far as special foods are concerned, for the Trafalgar Night Dinner last month, the Chefs onboard produced a galleon made of chocolate with small truffles as cannon balls. Also, in nice weather we can have BBQs on the flight deck. By far the most popular dish is a naval tradition called "Cheesy-hammy-eggy". This is toast topped with ham and cheese with a fried egg on top. Although not very imaginative, I assure you it is a firm favourite! I hope this answers your question.

What is a typical day like for a WEO?

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As a ex RN marine engineer CPO MECH1 my last propulsion method was gas turbines on a Type 21. Now I believe it is all diesel electric. I would be intrigued to know how this is achieved, type of equipment, control systems etc.

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How many people look after the engines and do they work shifts? Vincent, 13

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Do the Wrens live separately from the sailors? Sally, aged 11

HMS Richmond only has two Wren Officers onboard at present and they share a twin berth cabin between them. Many of the other ships in the Royal Navy now have Wrens onboard as part of their Ship's Company, on these ships all the females live together on female only mess decks and have separate bathroom facilities.

How far does your ship travel in a year? And where do you get the fuel from? Paul

See Paul's answer below about distances. We usually get our fuel when we are in port. This may come from a fuel barge or may come straight from the jetty. We try to keep our fuel tanks as full as possible so we are able to travel anywhere as quickly as possible. If we are going to be at sea for a long time we are able to take fuel from tankers whilst we are moving this is called a Replenishment at Sea (RAS). It involves the two ships travelling on the same course and speed and passing pipes and hoses between them.

How often do you fire your guns and how far can they shoot? Ben, aged 9

We try to fire the guns as often as possible but even if we are unable to fire them we practise with them and check all the working parts at least a couple of times a week.

The main gun we have onboard is the 4.5 inch turret at the front of the ship which can fire 25 rounds of ammunition a minute over a distance of 12 miles.

What is the longest trip you've taken? Paul

In 1997 HMS Richmond took part in an exercise called OCEAN WAVE and travelled a distance of around 45,000 miles between January and August that year. Last year HMS Richmond took part in a deployment in the Mediterranean and travelled over 35,000 miles. At the moment we are in the Gulf of Mexico and the journey over from Portsmouth was approximately 4,500 miles.

Do you have life rafts onboard? James

When you join a ship you are issued with your own personal lifejacket (even if you are just a visitor for the day). The ship also has many other lifesaving features including;

4 Spare lifejackets in case you can't get to yours in an emergency.
4 Once only survival suits, these are special suits designed to keep you warm in case you have to abandon ship. They are also bright orange so as to help rescuers find you.

Finally we have lots of inflatable liferafts that inflate automatically if we sink, these have all sorts off survival equipment contained onboard.