Ship's Log HMS Manchester
Saturday 4th December 2010 to Wednesday 8th December 2010
Court Assistant Mark Hardy and Immediate Past Master Michael Wren recently had the privilege of being guests on board HMS Manchester our Royal Navy affiliate ship on its return to the UK from a busy seven month tour of duty in the Caribbean. The Portsmouth based ship took a leading role in the effort to stem the flow of narcotics from the Caribbean region with two huge drug hauls recovering millions of pounds worth of cocaine and marijuana. This was combined with providing humanitarian relief to the British Overseas Territories during the hurricane season that has seen some of the most active storms witnessed in recent years and a courtesy visit to Cuba. A full report of HMS Manchester's contribution can be found in the link at the end of this article.
Mark and Michael met at Heathrow Airport at 06.00hrs on Friday 3rd December to catch a flight to the Azores via Lisbon arriving somewhat later than planned that evening due to severe weather in the Atlantic that delayed all flights from Portugal making it impossible for planes to land in Porta Delgada.
Saturday 4th December 2010
Witnessed from our hotel HMS Manchester berthed at the outer pontoon of Porta Delgada harbour at 09.30hrs in very stormy conditions but as we were not due on board until 14.00hrs decided to take a leisurely stroll around the town. However we received a telephone call from Lt Commander Dickie Underwood asking if we could make our way to the ship urgently as due to the bad weather they wanted to leave harbour at the earliest opportunity. By 11.30 hrs we had been welcomed onboard by Commander Rex Cox (captain) and Dickie Underwood given a safety briefing and shown to our quarters. After lunch in the Ward Room with the officers we were invited to the bridge to experience the delicate manoeuvre of leaving port and heading toward the open sea in gale force winds. Later in the afternoon we were shown around the deck area of the ship and briefed on the weapon systems and their capabilities including the Lynx Helicopter.
Dinner at 20.00hrs was followed by getting to know our amiable hosts and later watching on Sky the magnificent innings by Kevin Pietersen of 200+ runs before retiring to our bunks at some very late hour.
Sunday 5th December 2010
09.00hrs: After breakfast it was unfortunately too rough, force 10, to carry out the 'man overboard' exercise so we were given a resume of the activities on Deck 2 that included the fascinating activities of the Operations Room, the Galley, one of the most important departments! and Fire Drill onboard.
Church followed at 10.30hrs the service being conducted by the padre Rev Mark Alsopp starting with the hymn 'For those in peril on the sea'. At 12.20hrs: we were invited to lunch with the Captain, Commander Cox in his cabin with other officers to present the Annual World Traders Award to Chief Petty Officer Paul Godfrey who had been singled out for his outstanding service in keeping the refrigeration system operational in extremely demanding circumstances in the high temperatures that the ship experienced in the Caribbean.
14.30hrs: a walk around the decks in a beautiful Atlantic swell with the warm sun on our backs was followed by an in depth briefing by Lt Commander Tim Bailey the ship's Weapons Officer who explained all the weapons and armament systems that were carried on board. Lt Commander Richard Chambers, Warfare Officer, followed this briefing by giving us an in depth insight to the Operations Room, radar and firing systems for the weapons carried on HMS Manchester.
After supper that evening the Captain joined all in the Ward Room for evening drinks and a screening of the 'Cruel Sea' at which ice cream was served in the interval. Another very late evening as it seemed compulsory to watch the fourth day of the Test match from Adelaide before retiring to quarters. A very stormy night with quite an angry sea to lull one of to sleep!!.
Monday 6th December 2010
08.00hrs: Breakfast follow by visit to the hanger to get acquainted with the Lynx Helicopter and it's capabilities from Flight Commanders John (JJ) Hesketh and Luke Edwards. Unfortunately the weather was too rough in the Bay of Biscay to fly so we then ventured back to the bridge to observe the running of the ship in very stormy seas. Very exciting.
11.30hrs: back down below to help all the other officers in serving the crew at their Christmas Lunch Party that consisted of eight sittings over three hours. As well as laying tables, serving, cleaning up between sittings Mark and I had the privilege of running the bar, a most onerous task!!.
At 15.00hrs: it was the turn of the Ward Room Christmas Lunch a most convivial affair preceded by Secret Santa and presents all round.
Tuesday 7th December 2010
06.30hrs: Met with head chef Sid Wilkins in the galley to help prepare breakfast for 240 crew members and get an inside look into catering for all those on board a Type 42 Destroyer. It is a quite remarkable feat to feed so nutritiously for the princely sum of £2.42 per person per day.
08.30hrs: Lt Commander Dickie Underwood, Logistics Officer on board, initiated us to the complexities of making sure that some 16,000 items ranging in nature from all the food consumed to electronic spares were available and accounted for.
10.30 - 12.30hrs: under the expert guidance of Lt Commander John Bullock we were introduced to his team of engineers who are responsible for the propulsion, heating, refrigeration, air conditioning, lighting and all mechanical operations of the ship. In a guided tour to the bowels of HMS Manchester we inspected both the Rolls Royce Olympus engine room where we literally lay on the floor underneath the mighty machines that can acelerate the vessel to 30 knots in two minutes and also witnessed the extremely hot engine room that housed the two Rolls Royce gas turbine Tyne engines used for normal cruising.
13.30 - 14.30hrs: Met with CPO Sully Sullivan to become acquainted with the seamanship aspects of Manchester to learn about all activities at sea including small boat deployment in catching drug smugglers, safety aspects of all the crew and general discipline and training on board. On a practical excersise we witnessed the tracking of two French military planes that appeared on the Radar and were shown how the identity was established and the nature of their course.
14.30 - 15.30hrs: Visited the medical centre to meet with Dr Stephanie Ingram and 'Ronnie' Corbet who look after all health issues of the crew whil'st on operations at sea and in the more serious cases arrange transportation back to the UK for more intensive care.
18.30hrs: Joined Lt Commander John Bullock on his evening round of the ship to visit three messes to inform the crew of the arrangements for the following day. As the ship was returning home it had been granted Customs clearance but all were warned that they could be questioned by Military Police at the dock gate for spot checks! 19.30hrs. Back to the Ward Room for the auction of all the artifacts, a sad occasion but as the ship is due to be decommissioned on February 24th 2011 all items that were mess property needed new homes.
20.00hrs: Dinner with the Captain in his cabin together with other offices to round off a most intriguing and exciting few days at sea on the last assignment of HMS Manchester that we both felt an enormous privilege to be part of. Rounded off with a whisky tasting back in the Ward Room before retiring in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
Wednesday 8th December 2010
08.00hrs: On the bridge with the Captain as the ship headed toward Plymouth to anchor off shore as a number of people were leaving the ship, including ourselves, and some family of crew members were joining for the final leg up to Portsmouth.
10.00hrs: Joined all the crew in the helicopter hanger to hear Commander Cox address all those on board and thank them for their sterling service over the past seven months they had been away from home. He presented a number of prizes to the different departments and once again Chief Petty Officer Paul Godfrey was mentioned as the main prize winner in receiving the Worshipful Company of World Traders award, the main prize that the ship gives each year.
11.30hrs: Briefing and preparing for Lynx helicopter departure from the ship to Plymouth Airport that took the most wonderful forty minute tour of Dartmoor in glorious sunshine before landing us back in reality.
For futher information the HMS Manchester web site.
