JUST one more thing young man...
In the bowels of HMS Bulwark, Cdre John Kingwell raises an issue with one of the assault ship’s junior officers.
The commodore – Commander UK Task Group – was one of the inspecting officials to determine whether 18,000 tonnes of pusser’s grey was fit to take her place in the Fleet after a £30m refit.
Since the ship emerged from that overhaul at Devonport, she’s been shaking off the cobwebs (chief among them an anchor which resolutely refused to budge automatically and so required the ship’s company to haul it in manually...
in the South Coast exercises.With the month of trials complete, Cdre Kingwell plus officials from Fleet HQ in Portsmouth and the Defence Equipment and Support organisation joined Bulwark to decide whether to give the work carried out the thumbs up... or the thumbs down.
[Drum roll]
Well, you’ll be pleased to now that the thumbs were up and Bulwark is now official in the bosom of the Fleet having been delivered on time and on budget by the engineers at Babcock.
In 11 months they revamped 1,625 pieces of kit, manufactured 1,557 items, moved 398 tonnes of equipment on and off Bulwark, installed 21 miles of electrical cabling, applied 8,000 litres of paint to the hull, spruced up the galley, laundry, heads and mess decks, and made the ship fully night-vision compatible for operations involving landing craft and helicopters – all of which (and quite a bit more...) devoured 450,000 man hours.
The past 11 months have presented a challenging mix of complexity, time management and detailed and intricate planning – all of which has been underpinned by the hard work and enthusiasm of Bulwark’s ship’s company,” said CO Capt Alex Burton.
“Our acceptance back into the Fleet marks an important date for Bulwark on her path towards regeneration and her future role as the Fleet Flagship in October this year.”
Bulwark will spend the rest of the year undergoing trials and working up, culminating in taking over from her sister Albion as flagship.
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