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- HMS Devonshire 1964- 66 Commission
HMS Devonshire 1964- 66 Commission
- By Robby G
- Published 05/6/2008
- HMS Devonshire
- Unrated
The Ops. Room
The purpose, sense of harmony and spirit, the expertise and team work necessary to run the complex and sophisticated Operations Room in a G.M. Destroyer is only achieved after many hours of pre- and post- commissioning training. It entails individual training at all levels in the training establishments near Portsmouth, finally culminating with a week’s Command team training at DRYAD and VERNON. We commissioned in the Autumn and the courses followed shortly after, this meant after training that there was a gap of 3 months or so before we could start working at the coal face. The training was kept up, however, by “lending” to establishments our part-trained teams to help work up other ships passing through.
Then to sea for trials, hours of tracking aircraft from the F.R.U. at 1-fern who always seemed to be able to provide “just one more sortie” very often too when runway conditions were appalling—they had touching faith in our ability to control them! After working the aircraft off the Isle of Wight and down towards Land’s End and proving the radio and radar equipment it was necessary to go north to the Moray Firth for the acceptance trials of the Seaslug system. A fast passage was necessary and the surface team of the Ops. Room proved just how valuable their earlier training had been—particularly when, with visibility less than 500 yards off the Goodwin Sands, a large Greek tanker doing 18 knots turned the wrong way towards us when only a mile away!
Portland was a bit of a disappointment in some ways—we spent about two hours every day transferring Staff instead of staying at sea over night—the question that faced us daily was “Is it Mr. Pro-Symbols or Mr. Anti-Symbols today?” However, teamwork was much improved after the Portland Work-up and we began to feel that the effort was at last achieving results.
In the Far East our first big task was “Warrior”—a combined R.N., U.S,N. and RAN. exercise. A last minute allocation as Flagship meant extra staff in the Ops. Room which, already crowded, now resembled an ant heap with the atmosphere
thicker and the temperature higher. However, in spite of the difficulties the crews coped well, working long hours cheerfully. Australia, after the exercise was a very welcome break and the highlight of the commission.
The missile firings off Okinawa were very interesting. The U.S.N. had not controlled a drone target at the heights and patterns that we required and were a bit dubious about the feasability of it. This difficulty was overcome by their tremendous desire to help and the “try anything once” approach of White Beach and Naha Control. With the Met. Officer predicting gaps in the clouds, an F.8 looking for them and we down below keyed up waiting, an anxious time was had for a while. However, a gap appeared, the drone flew well, the missile took flight and the first run, a low one, was successful.
The drone, normally picked up by a U.S.N. helicopter, had to be picked up by the Ship due to a lifting hook failure. We were also advised that if we managed to get the parachute we could keep it—D.2 promptly put in a strong bid for it—the ideal material for a children’s tent. However, despite the efforts of most of the Wardroom, the Watch on Deck and some of the Ship’s Company we failed—it was about 70 ft. across! The drone itself was then lowered gently into the sea again, much to the disgust of R.E.A. Godwin who had just washed it down with fresh water to preserve the electronics, and picked up by another helicopter. The second firing, also a success, completed a most interesting morning on the range.
Following a successful Sea Inspection we ventured on “Sea Imp”. DEVONSHIRE was, by force of circumstances, the headquarter’s Ship with a Staff of sixteen—allocated mainly to the Ops. Room. However, it was most interesting meeting our guests who ranged from an Australian Army Officer to a United States submariner—and they were useful interpreters on the voice nets! Other members of the team were Officers of the Philippine and Royal Thai Navies.
The trip home was uneventful and as we near the end of this commission we shall all be moving on to different ships and different shipmates but we shall remember our days in DEVONSHIRE and the lessons we have learnt—they will prove of value on other “coal faces”.
The purpose, sense of harmony and spirit, the expertise and team work necessary to run the complex and sophisticated Operations Room in a G.M. Destroyer is only achieved after many hours of pre- and post- commissioning training. It entails individual training at all levels in the training establishments near Portsmouth, finally culminating with a week’s Command team training at DRYAD and VERNON. We commissioned in the Autumn and the courses followed shortly after, this meant after training that there was a gap of 3 months or so before we could start working at the coal face. The training was kept up, however, by “lending” to establishments our part-trained teams to help work up other ships passing through.
Then to sea for trials, hours of tracking aircraft from the F.R.U. at 1-fern who always seemed to be able to provide “just one more sortie” very often too when runway conditions were appalling—they had touching faith in our ability to control them! After working the aircraft off the Isle of Wight and down towards Land’s End and proving the radio and radar equipment it was necessary to go north to the Moray Firth for the acceptance trials of the Seaslug system. A fast passage was necessary and the surface team of the Ops. Room proved just how valuable their earlier training had been—particularly when, with visibility less than 500 yards off the Goodwin Sands, a large Greek tanker doing 18 knots turned the wrong way towards us when only a mile away!
Portland was a bit of a disappointment in some ways—we spent about two hours every day transferring Staff instead of staying at sea over night—the question that faced us daily was “Is it Mr. Pro-Symbols or Mr. Anti-Symbols today?” However, teamwork was much improved after the Portland Work-up and we began to feel that the effort was at last achieving results.
In the Far East our first big task was “Warrior”—a combined R.N., U.S,N. and RAN. exercise. A last minute allocation as Flagship meant extra staff in the Ops. Room which, already crowded, now resembled an ant heap with the atmosphere
The missile firings off Okinawa were very interesting. The U.S.N. had not controlled a drone target at the heights and patterns that we required and were a bit dubious about the feasability of it. This difficulty was overcome by their tremendous desire to help and the “try anything once” approach of White Beach and Naha Control. With the Met. Officer predicting gaps in the clouds, an F.8 looking for them and we down below keyed up waiting, an anxious time was had for a while. However, a gap appeared, the drone flew well, the missile took flight and the first run, a low one, was successful.
The drone, normally picked up by a U.S.N. helicopter, had to be picked up by the Ship due to a lifting hook failure. We were also advised that if we managed to get the parachute we could keep it—D.2 promptly put in a strong bid for it—the ideal material for a children’s tent. However, despite the efforts of most of the Wardroom, the Watch on Deck and some of the Ship’s Company we failed—it was about 70 ft. across! The drone itself was then lowered gently into the sea again, much to the disgust of R.E.A. Godwin who had just washed it down with fresh water to preserve the electronics, and picked up by another helicopter. The second firing, also a success, completed a most interesting morning on the range.
Following a successful Sea Inspection we ventured on “Sea Imp”. DEVONSHIRE was, by force of circumstances, the headquarter’s Ship with a Staff of sixteen—allocated mainly to the Ops. Room. However, it was most interesting meeting our guests who ranged from an Australian Army Officer to a United States submariner—and they were useful interpreters on the voice nets! Other members of the team were Officers of the Philippine and Royal Thai Navies.
The trip home was uneventful and as we near the end of this commission we shall all be moving on to different ships and different shipmates but we shall remember our days in DEVONSHIRE and the lessons we have learnt—they will prove of value on other “coal faces”.