UK: Future Submarine Commanders Meet Raleigh Recruits

The Royal Navy’s prospective submarine Commanding Officers of the future have met the next generation of sailors during a visit to HMS Raleigh for training. The six Officers are currently undergoing Submarine Command Course, an intense six month training package, known as Perisher, which assesses each student’s suitability to take command of a submarine.

For the first time they were put through their paces at the Royal Navy Submarine School, and were later given a brief on initial naval training when they were invited to meet some of the latest recruits during a team work training session.

The visit to HMS Raleigh is one of a series of enhancements made to Perisher training. Commander Ryan Ramsey is the Commanding Officer of the course and is known as ‘Teacher’.

He said: “I was fortune enough to come to Raleigh last year and see the recruits under training. I was impressed by their enthusiasm and felt it was important for my students to come and see it for themselves.

“The challenge for them as future Commanding Officers is to harness and maintain this enthusiasm when the recruits eventually join their crews at sea.”

At the Royal Navy Submarine School the students were tested on their decision making and leadership skills in the Dolphin Attack simulator, a mock-up of a submarine control room.

The exercise, based on recent submarine operations, saw the students to take command of a submarine during a mission to fire a Tomahawk Land Assault missile, whilst remaining undetected by enemy forces.

Cdr Ramsey said: “Using the facilities here puts the students with a different team in a different environment, but it also introduces them to the other students and staff at the Submarine school.

“It’s important for people to see them as their future leaders and to witness what they’ve had to go through to complete the course. To command their own submarine is what every submariner should aspire to.”

Four of the six students currently on course previously worked as instructors at the Royal Navy Submarine School. Perisher student Lieutenant Commander Iain Fergusson said: “It’s very nice to come back to the submarine school and to see some familiar faces.”

Lieutenant Ben Haskins, another of the students, said: “The course is challenging: but it needs to be, to train people to be the best in the world. It is great training which is designed to put students under pressure and you certainly learn a lot about yourself.”

The Submarine Command Course is one of the most intense training courses in the world. The majority of the course takes place in the simulators at Devonport Naval Base and at the Naval Base in Faslane. The final four weeks training takes place at sea on board a submarine where the students take charge of the vessel under the watchful eye of Teacher.

Recent enhancements to the course include an increased focus on coaching and mentoring to help the future Commanders get the best out of their team. Leadership styles such as those used by the Royal Marines and other organisations have also been adapted and incorporated into the course.

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Press Release, September 16, 2013; Image: Royal Navy