The official newspaper of the Royal Australian NavyVolume 55, No. 22, November 22, 2012

SERVING AUSTRALIA WITH PRIDESERVING AUSTRALIA WITH PRIDE

NEWSNEWS

UP AND AWAY

MRH-90 tests the waters in its fi rst at-sea deployment during Exercises Sea Lion and Croix de Sud

Page 7

HOLD TIGHT: HMAS Tobruks embarked MRH-90 conducts winching operations for a personnel transfer with Tobruks sea boat during Exercise Croix de Sud.Photo: LSIS Brenton Freind

Seahawk comes to aid of ill passenger

Helping hand

Page 5

World World fi rstfi rst

Thirty nations in mine counter exercise

Page 3

02 NEWSNovember 22, 2012

DirectorDavid Edlington: (02) 6265 4650

EditorSharon Palmer: (02) 6266 7612

Deputy EditorLauren Norton: (02) 6266 7615

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LAC Bill Solomou: (02) 6265 1355Andrew Stackpool: (02) 6266 7611

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SERVING AUSTRALIA WITH SERVING AUSTRALIA WITH PRIDEPRIDE

NEWSNEWS

SGT Dave Morley

SEVERAL Navy members enjoyed a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to speak with Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, at Garden Island on November 9.

Members from all three services and their families gathered at the Navy Heritage Centre for a meet and greet with the Royal couple.

WO Tim Badger, of HMAS Success, said Prince Charles asked him where he had deployed.

I told him Id been to Afghanistan

twice, the Solomons three times and East Timor, WO Badger said.

He was interested when I told him I was going to Slovakia to visit people Id worked with in Afghanistan.

LSMEDU Samone Black , o f AUSCDT-One, said Prince Charles was interested in clearance diving operations.

He had a history of working in mine warfare from his own days as CO in the minesweeper HMS Bronington, she said.

He was also keen to hear about what the team does over in Afghanistan.

I thought it was great that he

had such an interest in what the dive team does and he said he was really proud of the IED/EOD guys that are deployed on operations.

The Royal couple arrived at Garden Island on the Admirals barge, which brought them across the harbour from Admiralty House.

They were met by CDF GEN David Hurley and CO HMAS Kuttabul CMDR Todd Willson.

Prince Charles also inspected the guard of honour from Australias Federation Guard, as well as the Navy Band.

Michael Brooke

THE Naval Heritage Collection (NHC) motorboat MB168 that served during WWII re-entered the waters of Sydney Harbour on October 31 after an extensive and successful refit.

MB168 was designed as a district naval officers launch, built at Garden Island in Sydney and launched in August 1936.

Commodore Support CDRE Andrew Smith praised the importance of preserving Navys heritage and acknowledged the behind the scenes work of curators.

Their work is never ending given the size of the collection, limited resources, environmental and other challenges com-bated on a daily basis, he said.

Restoration work carried out dur-ing the refit included the replacement of rotten timbers and corroded hull fastenings to restore hull strength and electrical and propulsion work.

Traditional shipwright tools and techniques were used to shape and bend hull planks and sponsons to fit.

These skills were appreciated by Defence Maritime Services who man-aged the contract on behalf of the NHC.

Director NHC CAPT David

Michael acknowledged the quality of the refit and praised the meticulous work by Camerons Marina and volun-teer David Glasson.

It is terrific to see that MB168 will continue as a working boat and be used for special events on the harbour, CAPT Michael said.

Before being retired to the NHC, MB168 had a variety of roles in Sydney as VIP transport, the General Manager Garden Islands boat, a survey launch, a miscellaneous motor-boat based at HMAS Rushcutter and also supported the RAN Sailing Association.

Restored motorboat makes a return to the harbour

BACK AT SEA: MB168 motors past Cockatoo Island in Sydney Harbour after an extensive restoration.

Right royal opportunityROYAL ARRIVAL: Prince Charles and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, with the Royal Equerry, CMDR Dominic MacNamara, on board the Admirals barge in Sydney Harbour. Inset, Prince Charles talks to ABCD Christopher Reichman and LSMEDU Samone Black at the Navy Heritage Centre. Below right, CDF GEN David Hurley salutes as Prince Charles and Camilla arrive at Garden Island. Photos: ABIS Sarah Ebsworth and ABIS Sarah Williams

03NEWS November 22, 2012

LEUT Kelli Lunt

NAVY mine warfare and clearance diving personnel combined with HMAS Anzac to participate in the worlds first international mine coun-ter measures exercise (IMCMEX) in the Middle East.

Personnel from more than 30 nations participated in the exercise in September.

The exercise aimed to develop tac-tical level proficiency and improve interoperability between nations in mine counter measure operations.

Four personnel from the Mine Warfare and Clearance Diving task group were appointed to key staff positions within the Royal Navys

Mine Warfare Battle Staff embarked in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Cardigan Bay a former sister ship to HMAS Choules.

LSMW Damien Baum, who was responsible for maintaining the com-prehensive underwater picture, said to be part of the first exercise combining so many nations was a great experi-ence.

As a mine warfare sailor, to use my professional skills while embed-ded on a coalition vessel and operat-ing with so many partner nations was a rare opportunity, he said.

Learning about their procedures with the added difficulty of informa-tion and data exchange across a vari-ety of systems was challenging, but it will mean that if we are to work with

these nations on future tasking it will be that much easier.

Commander Mine Warfare and Clearance Diving Task Group CMDR Doug Griffiths said the exercise allowed Navy to challenge its capa-bilities in an area outside of the Asia Pacific region while building on the skills learned at RIMPAC.

The RAN mine warfare and clearance diving community had a unique opportunity to operate with a large collection of nations on the larg-est of world stages during IMCMEX, and benchmark our own abilities as a command staff, CMDR Griffiths said.

IMCMEX brought together almost double the nations involved in RIMPAC, all focused on safeguarding

the freedom of navigation across the global commons to enable the flow of world commerce.

The exercise incorporated a sym-posium, detailed harbour phase and a sea tactical phase spanning three areas throughout the Middle East.

This included the Central Arabian Gulf to the north of Bahrain, to the southern area off the coast of the United Arab Emirates and in the Gulf of Oman as well as to the western area of the Djibouti coast.

The coming together of dedicat-ed, like-minded nations for the pur-pose of proving systems and process-es to ensure freedom of navigation and global trade proved highly suc-cessful, CMDR Griffiths said.

International task group a world first

OUT IN FORCE: RFA Cardigan Bay, HMS Diamond, HMS Shoreham, USS Sentry, USS Dexterous and USS Devastator during the tactical phase of the exercise.Photo: Royal Navy

LEUT Kelli Lunt

LCDR Al Byrne has seen his fair share of the world during his career, but didnt think he would ever be living on a Turkish ship deterring pirates.

Currently based in the Turkish frigate TCG Gemlik operating around the Gulf of Aden, the Red Sea and the Horn of Africa, LCDR Byrne is the air operations coordina-tor for the multinational CTF 151, responsible for countering piracy on the high seas.

Usua l ly based a t HMAS Albatross, LCDR Byrne shares his 30 years of air operations experi-ence with the 19-strong multina-tional staff and wider task force of ships from nations including Turkey, Singapore and Republic of Korea.

CTF 151s mission is to pro-tect the maritime community from piracy, which has been a significant problem in these waters for sever-al years, with numerous large and small ships taken and their crews and cargoes held for ransom, often for extended periods.

Our coalition of nations oper-ates numerous long-range patrol aircraft flying from a number of air bases throughout the region, as

Coordinating anti-piracy operations from the air

well as a substantial number of ship-borne helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles,