IF I had a hammer…Oh I do.
A leading hand from HMS Edinburgh struggles to halt the torrent has batters wedges into a crack as the Type 42 grapples with a disaster relief exercise.
After a refit – the very last carried out on this class of destroyers – this exercise was the ultimate test of the Portsmouth-based warship outside an operational deployment.
She decamped from her Solent home for nine weeks in the hands of the Flag Officer Sea Training. It was, says CO Cdr Paul Russell, “a taxing time” as the FOST staff – never known for being anything but relentless – threw fire, flood, disaster, war at the Fortress of the Sea.
“Edinburgh has been well tested – and she acquitted herself well, proving that in today’s RN flexibility and a positive ‘can-do’ attitude are paramount,” he added.
Barely had D97 arrived in Portsmouth after more than she was off to her namesake city on the Forth…
…where she arrives today for a four-day visit.
The destroyer will be berthed at the cruise liner terminal in Leith and, shortly after arriving, there’s a ‘capability demonstration’ (to, er, demonstrate Edinburgh’s capability) for VIPs.
Tomorrow, the ship will welcome a number of visits by affiliated organisations and sea cadet units from South Queensferry and Grangemouth, plus reservists from HMS Scotia based at Rosyth.
On Sunday the ship’s open to the public from 1pm until 4pm – according to the blurb ‘all the inhabitants of the Scottish capital are invited’, which might make it a bit of a squeeze.
Students from Leith Academy, South Queensferry High and Whitburn Academy enjoy private tours of the destroyer on Monday, before HMS Edinburgh departs Leith at 10am on Tuesday.
Her next stop from the Forth is the Clyde: D97 is taking part in the biennial Joint Warrior war games, run from Faslane where she’ll join warships from Allied nations, plus air and ground forces on a major exercise around the Western Isles which, says Cdr Russell, will “take Scotland’s capital ship to the next level of war fighting”.
Source : http://www.navynews.co.uk
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