HMS Sutherland came under attack from supersonic French fighters as the frigate swapped counter-piracy duties for a brief return to traditional war fighting training.
The Fighting Clan sparred with a couple of Mirage jets based in Djibouti – and the French pilots praised the Devonport-based frigate’s crew for making the ship a very tricky target indeed to hit.
Pictures: LA(Phot) Ben Sutton, HMS Sutherland
ALTOGETHER now: dacca-dacca-dacca-dacca.
AB Matthew Herring, one of HMS Sutherland’s upper deck gunners, tries to line up a French fighter in the sights of his Minigun somewhere in the Gulf of Aden.
The Devonport-based frigate came under ‘attack’ from a pair of French Mirage jets of 3/11 Course Squadron based in Djibouti during air defence training.
At high altitude the Mirages can notch up speeds in excess of 1,500mph (more than twice the speed of sound). At low level, they’re limited to a little under 690mph…
… and Sutherland can summon 39.5mph flat out (34.4kts to be precise during speed trials back in 2008).
At its top low-altitude speed, a Mirage will eat up 1,012ft every second – which gives gunners like AB Herring three seconds to react; the range of the Minigun – a Gatling gun which spews out up to 6,000 rounds a minute – is a little over 3,000ft.
No pressure then…
The training – known in military parlance as an ADEX (Air Defence EXercise) came about thanks to the personal touch: a couple of French pilots came aboard the frigate when she took a break from her patrols to take on supplies, and thus the seeds were sown for a ‘workout’ which tested airmen and sailors alike.
“It was fantastic training for the entire ship’s company – we practised our core warfighting skills in the operations room, ship handling from the bridge, and there was battle damage overlaid to test the entire ship’s company,” said Sutherland’s operations officer Lt Cdr Tom Westwood.
“The Mirages carried out simulated missile raids and bombing attacks for an hour. Sutherland defeated each incoming raid and manoeuvred aggressively to ensure all her weapons and sensors could engage the targets.
“The Mirage pilots commented on the difficulty they faced attacking the ship due to her manoeuvres and the skill of the ship’s company.”
They’ll be back to give it another go; Sutherland intends to repeat the exercise with the French when she’s next in the area.
It’s not merely the gunners aboard the Fighting Clan who’ve been tested recently.
After a short visit to the Omani capital of Muscat, the Fighting Clan headed out into the Gulf of Oman to join US forces for a three-day submarine hunt as Sutherland and the Arleigh Burke-class destroyer USS Nitze tried to find an American hunter-killer boat lurking somewhere below.
Luckily, the Devonport-based frigate could call upon the ship’s Merlin, callsign Warlock, to track down the ‘foe’; the helicopter is widely acknowledged in naval circles as the best there is at sub hunting.
For the Merlin crew, who’ve devoted most of the deployment to maritime security and board and search operations with Sutherland’s Royal Marines Commando detachment, a spot of ‘pinging’ was a welcome return to the helicopter’s raison d’être.
“The anti-submarine exercise allowed us to refresh and refine our core and advanced anti-submarine warfare skills in challenging environmental conditions,” said Merlin Flight Commander Lt Earl Kingston.
An impressive panorama of Sutherland taking supplies on board from the USNS Supply
“It was the perfect opportunity for my team to adjust our traditional tactics – normally employed in more temperate climes – to the unique oceanography of this region.
“And it allowed us to work closely with our American cousins and make use of their submarine, so we gained an insight into the different tactics they employ.”
Before the exercise Sutherland and Nitze conducted a simultaneous replenishment at sea with the aptly-named USNS Supply, an American fast combat support ship for fuel.
Sutherland will continue her wide-ranging mission – a combination of keeping the sea lanes open for lawful usage by mariners and working with friendly nations and navies in the region – until the year’s end.
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