HMS Brocklesby Battles Obstacles within NATO Deployment

On the 29th January 2014, HMS Brocklesby sailed from Portsmouth for a stormy trip across the Bay of Biscay to join the Standing NATO Mine Counter Measure Group in the Mediterranean.

The crew of Brocklesby, Crew 1 of the 2nd MCM Squadron, ‘The Fighting Aces’, left the UK in to some of the worse storms that the UK has seen for a long time and sought shelter in the French Naval Base in Brest to wait for the cycle of storms to pass.

The storms that battered the UK in January and early February meant that Brocklesby was in Brest for rather longer than expected but met up with German minehunter Weilheim, also en route to join the NATO force.

The two ships were able to sail together across the stormy Bay of Biscay to make best speed to join the Task Group that was exercising in the Adriatic.

After a few quick fuelling stops in Gibraltar, Sicily and Bari, Brocklesby met up with the rest of the task group, German Ships Weilheim and Rhein and Italian minehunter Chioggia in the central Adriatic.

“It’s great to finally deploy,” said Navigating Officer Lieutenant Jon Eastburn. “We’ve completed some intensive training to get here and it’s good to start to put it in to practice.”

Working with NATO is something that most minehunters only do once every two or three years so the opportunity is a great one. MCM2 Crew 1 only returned from operations in the Gulf in July 2013 and deployed again for NATO after only being in HMS Brocklesby for two months.

Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander Ben Vickery said: “This is the first time an MCMV Crew has generated and deployed in such a short timeframe to meet the UK’s commitment to NATO.

On joining the group a full programme of exercises was planned for every day giving all the ships opportunity to practice their skills in ship handling, replenishing while underway, and communicating via flags and Morse code light.

The changeable Mediterranean weather meant that following the exercises the Task Group once again had to seek shelter in the vicinity of the Greek Islands of Corfu and Kephallonia. This gave the teams from the various ships the opportunity to cross-deck and meet each other while the ships were anchored.

“It’s really great how the military mindset spans different cultures and language barriers,” said Operations Officer Lt Tim Allen. “Sailors, regardless of nationality, have the same hard work ethos and wicked sense of humour!”

HMS Brocklesby is deployed with the Standing NATO Mine Counter-Measures Group until mid-April 2014.

[mappress]
Press Release, March 25, 2014, Image: UK Navy