York knuckles down to Falklands mission - finally

FRESH from an “eventful” – and unscheduled – start to her South Atlantic deployment (she was called upon to evacuate civilians from Benghazi at the height of the growing crisis in Libya) HMS York has belatedly begun her patrol of the Falklands.

Britain’s fastest destroyer (34kts – quicker than Daring, Dauntless and Diamond which are more than 20 years younger...) had just one day alongside at East Cove Military Port (perhaps a blessing given its bleakness) before beginning her South Atlantic duties in earnest.

The 24 hours at the jetty meant some unenviable duties – chiefly ditching a fortnight’s worth of gash and quickly loading stores – and some more pleasurable ones, like carrying 73 sacks of mail aboard. Well, opening the post was fun even if carrying and sorting it wasn’t...

With the mail read and parcels opened, it was back to sea for routine training with Falklands-based land and air forces to prove the ability of all to defend the island chain.

Then it was back to East Cove for some essential maintenance to prepare the White Rose warship for the rigours of a South Atlantic winter (it’s mid-autumn south of the Equator now).

While the engineers carried out essential maintenance, several members of the ship’s company took the opportunity to use the excellent adventurous training facilities on East Falkland.

The ship is now in training for an impending visit from a mobile team from the Flag Officer Sea Training to ensure the Portsmouth-based Type 42 is upholding the standards she achieved during her pre-deployment training.

Just to add to the pressure of the FOSTies coming aboard, the ship will be visited by Commodore Portsmouth Flotilla, Cdre Rupert Wallace, who visits Pompey-based ships around the globe to see how they are running, meet the crew and discuss any issues that are raised.

As well as dropping in on York, the commodore will be visiting HMS Clyde, the Falkland Islands Patrol Vessel which is permanently based in the South Atlantic – but remains under the Portsmouth Flotilla banner with crew flying out every six months to man her.

HMS York arrives at East Cove Military Port in the Falklands.

Source : http://www.navynews.co.uk