More than 3,000 sailors and Royal Marines are geared up for a three-month deployment to the Mediterranean – the key workout in 2012 of the UK’s new task force.
Cougar 12 will see the Response Force Task Group train with the French – including their flagship Charles de Gaulle – and Albanians among other large-scale exercises around the shores of the Med.
Pictures: PO(Phot) Ray Jones and LA(Phot) Dean Nixon, HMS lllustrious
FULLY kitted out in the cavernous hangar of HMS Illustrious are members of the carrier’s boarding team, honing their skills off the South Coast.
They’re gearing up for the Royal Navy’s key deployment of 2012 – a three-month amphibious ‘work-out’ in the Mediterranean testing warships, Royal Marines commandos and naval air power.
Cougar 12, which begins later this month, will see four warships, one amphibious support ship, a giant ro-ro ferry/transporter, three commando units and helicopters and personnel from eight Fleet Air Arm and Army Air Corps squadrons are committed to the three-month deployment – in all more than 3,000 sailors, Royal Marines, soldiers and airmen.
They will take part in two large-scale exercises, interspersed with various smaller exercises and training and goodwill visits – in some cases to places which rarely see the White Ensign.
The deployment will be the second test of the UK Response Force Task Group, formed under the 2010 defence review, which was called upon in anger last year to support operations off Libya: HMS Ocean launched repeated Apache gunships strikes from her flight deck.
An impressive shot as Lusty steams alongside tanker RFA Orangeleaf for a replenishment at sea
Twelve months on and Portsmouth-based HMS Illustrious takes Ocean’s place as the helicopter carrier assigned to the task group.
She’ll be joined by the nation’s flagship HMS Bulwark, from where Cdre Paddy McAlpine, Commander UK Task Group, and 3 Commando Brigade’s Brig Martin Smith with their respective joint ‘blue’ and ‘green’ staffs will direct Cougar.
They will oversee two key exercises: Corsican Lion, working hand-in-hand with the French, and later this autumn the force will shift to the Adriatic to work with the Albanian military.
Corsican Lion, which devours the second half of October, sees the Cougar force link up with France’s flagship FS Charles de Gaulle – the most powerful surface ship in western European waters.
Her flight deck will be the launchpad for Super Étendard and Rafale jets, offering a first real glimpse of how the Response Force Task Group should look at the end of the decade when HMS Queen Elizabeth enters service with the Royal Navy.
Junglie Sea Kings arrive on the deck of Illustrious
And in the nearer future, Corsican Lion is the most important strand of Cougar and a major step along the road towards forging a fully-operational Anglo-French force by 2016.
The deployment also sees some initial training off the Cornish coast, including amphibious landings near St Austell, before the force makes for the Mediterranean.
There will be planned exercises with the US and Algerian forces and visits to Algeria and Malta – particularly poignant for Illustrious as she has ties with the island going back to her predecessor and the dark days of World War 2.
“Cougar 12 provides us with a superb opportunity to rekindle our amphibious capability after a prolonged period when our focus has been on operations elsewhere,” said Cdre McAlpine.
His force stands at five days’ notice to deploy anywhere in the world should the government require it; in theory the task group can sail to within 12 nautical miles of 147 nations – that’s three out of four countries in the world.
Participants in Cougar 12 are:
HMS Bulwark
HMS Illustrious
HMS Northumberland
HMS Montrose
RFA Mounts Bay
MV Hartland Point
Headquarters of 3 Commando Brigade
45 Commando (currently the UK’s on-call Royal Marines unit ready to respond to world events)
30 Commando IX Group
539 Assault Squadron Royal Marines
814 Naval Air Squadron (Merlins)
815 Naval Air Squadron (Lynx)
829 Naval Air Squadron (Merlins)
845 Naval Air Squadron (Commando-carrying Sea Kings)
846 Naval Air Squadron (Commando-carrying Sea Kings)
854 Naval Air Squadron (airborne surveillance and control Sea Kings)
656 Squadron Army Air Corps (Apache gunships)
659 Squadron Army Air Corps (Lynx)
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