Roebuck Tests New Concept
Text from Ships Of The Royal Navy No. 515
Costal survey vessel HMS Roebuck is reaching a milestone
in her career - by next month she should have steamed the
equivalent to ten times around the world.
Many of those miles have been clocked up in the last year,
as Roebuck participated in three major NATO exercises developing
the concept of Rapid Environmental Assessment (REA).
REA is designed to provide accurate environmental information
in preperation for an amphibious landing or evacuation of
personnel, taking in the atmosphere, sea conditions, sea-bed
and beach.
The 1,477-tonne ship - the only one of her class - started
with Rapid Response ''97 and '98, followed by Strong Resolve,
which put REA theory into practice.
This gave the ship's company the chance to visit several countries,
including Greece, Spain and Portugal. Roebuck was believed
to be the first RN ship to visit Seville for 13 year.
Roebuck, the largest of the Navy's three coastal survey vessels,
then undertook a spell of operational sea training from Faslane
and surveying north of Rona.
The calm, sunny weather in the north contrasted with conditions
during Operation Intimate, a French-run exercise to gather
data from the Bay of Biscay which coincided with poor weather,
making the recovery of heavy sonar bouys somewhat challenging.
Roebuck now returns to more traditional surveying in the North
Sea and Irish Sea, with a refit due at the end of 1999.
Old Name Proves Popular
Roebuck has proved a popular name through the years -
the first of the 16 vessels so-called appered when a flyboat
was bought from the Dutch in 1585.
The second, a ten-gunner, was lost in a collision in 1641,
and the third was captured during the Civil War and sold in
1651.
The fourth Roebuck was sold in 1668, the fifth in 1683, and
the sixth was sunk in 1696 as a foundation in Portsmouth.
The seventh foundered in 1701 and her successor became a breakwater
in 1743.
The ninth, a fifth-rate, was sold in 1764 and the tenth, a
troopship and hospital ship among other things, was broken
up in 1811. The eleventh was sold in 1864, and the twelfth,
a 1901 destoyer went in 1919.
Number 13 was "launched" by a near-miss bomb in
1942, and converted to a frigate, being sold in 1968.
The current Roebuck is number 14 - but two others existed,
a requisitioned World War One minesweeper and a World War
II balloon vessel.
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