Trip on HMS St Albans
As part of the Trafalgar 200 celebrations
our associated ship HMS
St Albans was sailing
from Portsmouth to London to take part
in a wreath laying ceremony at Nelson’s
tomb in St Paul’s Cathedral. Their
captain very kindly asked 10 cadets and
two staff to join them. The lucky ones
on the trip were Oli Watts, and Kat Harris,
Ilse Sharp, Flo & Tom Oakley, Lauren
Ferguson, Frank Ridgway, Adam Lansdown,
Calum & Laurie Wales plus instructors:
Sgt. Lansdown and PO Wright.
Also see: On Board Ship Ships Arrival Wreath Laying Nelsons Tomb Trafalgar Square One Trafalgar Square Two
Marine Cadet Oli Watts, from Hemel Hempstead now takes up the story.
“We left the unit on Tuesday evening heading to Portsmouth, where we boarded the ship. It was really impressive coming on board, we passed armed guards and then entered the huge flight deck and hangar.
We boarded the ship in the pouring rain and waited in the hangar for the duty senior rate who told us where we would be sleeping. The male cadets were next to 42 mess, where the male ratings lived and slept and the females were underneath the operations room, next to all the electrical equipment.
The rest of the night was our own. Most of the ship’s company was ashore on leave, drinking most likely, so we spent the night in the mess watching the men’s wide-screen TV. As the sailors came back we talked to some of them about navy life and going out. While the male cadets lived it up, the females were fast asleep in their beds.
In the morning, we all had our breakfast in the junior rates mess hall, and a safety briefing. After scran we were introduced to the two guides who would be looking after us on the ship – Leading Seaman Simmons and Chief Scarlet and we then went on deck to watch Colours (a daily ceremony).
Lon. Simmons then took us on a tour of the ship and showed us where all the important places were before we were taken to the bridge to watch the ship sail out of Portsmouth at 1000. We sailed out past HMS Edinburgh and HMS Victory – the oldest commissioned naval ship in the world.
While we were out in the rather rough sea, we watched from the bridge as the ship’s company practised their man over board drills, while they talked us through what was happening: The ship performed a sharp turn while the crew lowered the fast rigid inflatable boat (RIB) into the sea. We were used to look out for the man over board, which was very frighteningly difficult with the choppy seas that were occasionally sending spray right up over the bridge. Some of our group got soaked, as they were watching from the outside of the bridge. The RIB went out and rescued the man overboard, which was quite sensibly a dummy, and brought him alongside the ship, known as “Mother”. I made a mental note not to fall in!
After the excitement of the man over board
drills, we practised some skill at arms
with one of the ship’s six General
Purpose Machine Guns and, of course, we
had some photos taken in the ‘Rambo
pose’. It’s amazing how even
with all the sophisticated modern weaponry
the ship has it still has machine guns.
We then went down to the junior rates mess again for lunch, which most people didn’t feel like eating, as seasickness was setting in. However, after a big meal I felt right as rain again.
We were then taken on a tour of the Ops room and watched the ship’s warfare branch test the equipment for bugs. We were then given a tour of all the equipment and shown how it is used to protect the ship and destroy enemies of all types. This made computer games seem rather insignificant, this was real!
We then had a tour of the Mechanical Engineering department by a chief engineer. We saw how the steering system worked, how the water is purified, yes they make their own water – amazing, and how the ship’s systems are monitored in the Ship Control Centre (SCC).
By the end of the tour it was 1600 and there was just time for a quick bit of deck PT. This was completely different from normal PT with a proper navy instructor in the open air with quite rough sea. I was running along at the speed of a thousand leaping gazelles when the deck suddenly disappeared and I found myself on the deck, grazed and bruised. You need to be mindful of the power of the waves! We had a few relay races which were really good fun. Flo’s team won most of the races, but Kat’s team won the last race, which the PTI said was the decider, so they got the trophy.
After the PT most of the ship had free time, as the organised day ends at around 1700. This meant most of the male sailors were in the mess, getting the beers in (and I have been told the females were just as bad). We heard stories of the games sailors play to pass the long hours at sea.
We ate at 1900 and Lon. Simmons had organised a screening of “Dukes of Hazard” and ice cream for us, but most of the girls didn’t make it to the end of the film as they were so tired. The boys, on the other hand, stayed up with the hard-core sailors who were still drinking.
We were woken by reveille being piped at 0700 and had to fight for a sink in the washroom. We had breakfast at the same time – which on a Tuesday and Thursday is continental, meaning it’s pretty naff!
Lon. Simmons then took half of the group up to the bridge, where we saw how the ship was run. It was fundamentally similar to the Sea Cadets Tallship TS Royalist, but much more sophisticated! After the bridge tour we went into the communications room, crammed full of millions of pounds worth of equipment, and where Kat Harris could check her Hotmail My Space; she got 4 messages and a photo comment! YAY!
After all the thrills of My Space, we went into the stores. It wasn’t the most exciting part of the ship but it was very interesting talking to the stores officer, a young female lieutenant, about her views of naval life as a woman and more importantly to those who are thinking about joining up, the pay structure.
She showed us all of the stores and then took us up into the wardroom, which puts all of the junior rates’ mess to shame, with proper silver cutlery, silver service and a wide screen plasma TV.
We headed back to the more humble junior rates’ mess for lunch, where we stayed and had a lesson in seamanship.
As the ship entered the Thames we had
a tour of the Lynx helicopter as we went
under the Dartford Bridge. At 1500 we fell
in on the bridge to watch as we sailed
up the Thames. The Mayor of St Albans,
Malcolm MacMillan and partner were flown
aboard for the trip up the Thames.
It was fantastic seeing all of the sights of London from the vantage point of the ships bridge, and a great privilege that we were on HMS St Albans. We passed through Tower Bridge with hundreds of people watching, and finally came along side HMS Belfast at 1630, opposite the Tower of London. We then had free time, when we could go ashore, socialise with the rates and clean and polish our uniform for the following morning. The girls had a relatively early night, whereas the guys spent hours in the onboard gym, after deciding there is nothing to do at night around Tower Bridge.
The next morning we were transported to St. Paul’s Cathedral, where we were given jobs. I was a car door opener with Flo Oakley. We opened the car doors of the 1st Sea Lord, the Lord Mayor of London and the Commandant General Royal Marine Corps, just to name a few. Other jobs included: Adam Lansdown, hat taker; Kat Harris and Lauren Ferguson were the wreath holders, and the rest were ushers. At the end of the service we had pictures taken and were interviewed for German TV.
After a busy but exciting morning we made our way back to the ship for lunch and packing our kit. Then we had a two hour visit to the Tower of London, which was really interesting, but does the Queen need that many crowns? Then back to the ship where we thanked the ship’s company, and made our way home in our minibus.“
Oli Watts October 2005
Also see: Pictures
of them arriving, through Tower Bridge,
to berth next to HMS Belfast here.
Wreath
laying at Nelson's Tomb pictures here.