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Moving along the quay side you next came
across
ITS San Giusto (L9894) an Italian LPD dock landing ship on 15W, the next 2 warships on 16W
were HNLMS Tromp (F803) &
FS Latouche
Treville (D646) which had her Lynx 273 out on the flight deck. Tromp being one of the new Dutch "De Zeven Provincien Class" air defence &
Command frigates stood out as one of the stars of the weekend for me, but
sadly people who went on the Monday would have missed her & FS Latouche
Treville as they both departed early on the Monday morning.
Anchored out in the river Tamar was HMS Albion (L14) as she
was due to take a major roll in the displays later in the day but
was receiving visitors in the morning before the river displays &
later in the afternoon after the displays had stopped. You where
taken to & from Albion via a landing craft & judging by the
queues this seemed to be very popular with the crowds, & was a novel
way to get to see one of the Navy’s newer ships.
Heading back around to 12W was HMS Monmouth
(F235) with Lynx
ZD255 on her flight deck. along with the German tanker FGS Tegernsee
(A1426) & on 11W was HMS Campbeltown (F86). On 9W were the 2
submarines HMS Trenchant (S91) & HMS Trafalgar (S107) these were open to the public but
only via a ticket which you obtained near the entrance, again judging
by the queues to obtain the ticket for the 10 minute tour was another item
popular with the public.
Walking further into the dockyard you next came across
FS Premier Maitre L’her (F792) & HMS Mersey (P283), & the Russian assault ship
Minsk (127) at 7W. With HMS Ocean (L12) on 5/6W &
also being centre stage for watching the flying & river displays from the
deck she was very popular place given the crowds on the deck as it did give
an excellent view, one major draw back though was taking over an hour to
get off the ship! Below decks on Ocean was Sea King ZA313, whilst on deck was
Lynx XZ646, Gazelle ZA776 & Sea King XV707. Further down the quay from Ocean were
HMS Bangor (M109) & HMS
Montrose (F236) both set for playing key roles later in the river displays.
At 13.30 the flying displays started with the Royal
Navy "Black Cats" Lynx display team of 702 Squadron as usual the display was up
to their award winning standards,
the AEW Sea King flying next putting on a lively & spirited display
while it did depart it was not the last we had seen of it. There then followed a Sea
King SAR display performed in
conjunction with a RNLI lifeboat on the river , but on the Monday the volunteer
who jumped into the
river tamar to be rescued by the SAR Sea King actually turned in to a real
emergency. The person took in too much water while waiting to be
hoisted into the Sea King which resulted in the display being cut
short & the Sea King calling for an ambulance to meet them to
transfer to the local hospital
The FRADU "Black Hawks" then performed their 4 x ship
display routine in their BAe Hawks, which consisted of both close formation
flypasts & passes. Once they departed from the display area it was the start
of the build up for the river display but it would not be the last time we
had seen some of the FRADU Hawks.
The river display theme was based on the idea that
forces had taken over part of an oil rich country & the Royal Navy was sent
in with the help of the Royal Marines to resolve the situation. With the stage
set for the river displays the “Bad guys” came up the river in rigid raiders
& took residence on rafts to wait in ambush , & it was not long before
the river was alive to the sound of gun fire from both sides with
Royal Marines launching from HMS Albion (L14) in their own
craft, coming under attack.
With HMS Bangor
(M109) sailing up river to
clear the way ahead & give support to the marines under fire , while an AEW Sea King flew high
overhead giving aerial surveillance along with a Royal Marine’s Lynx &
Gazelle hovering over the opposite bank of the river waiting to give further
assistance. |
