Sailors from HMS Dauntless took a break from international exercises in the Gulf of Mexico for an impressive photoshoot.
The Type 45 destroyer is Britain’s representative at UNITAS, billed as the largest naval exercise in the Northern Hemisphere, which sees D33 working with a dozen vessels from half a dozen nations.
WELL, that was a long scroll down.
This is about as vertical a shot of a Type 45 destroyer you’re ever likely to get.
There’s not enough space (or sailors for that matter) to spell out her name, but T45 will do very nicely, thank you.
The crew of HMS Dauntless take a brief break from international exercises off the southern tip of Florida for a ‘photex’ – photographic exercise, courtesy of some clever marshalling of the ship’s company, some skilful flying from the ship’s Lynx flight, and a head for heights from LA(Phot) Nicky Wilson hanging out of the side capturing the moment on camera.
Dauntless is the UK’s representative at UNITAS – billed as the largest and longest-running naval exercise in the Northern Hemisphere – involving 13 warships from seven nations.
Dauntless, which is coming towards the end of her maiden deployment, was given a berth at Key West alongside a Type 22 frigate – sadly not one of ours, as they’re all out of service, but BNS Greenhalgh, once HMS Broadsword, but for the past 17 years serving under the Brazilian flag.
Which once again reinforced how big the new breed of air defence destroyers is compared with stalwarts of the Fleet of the past 30 years.
Before the warships headed out into the Gulf of Mexico for the active phase of UNITAS, various activities were laid on for their sailors – some competitive, some community-driven.
Teams representing Britain, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Mexico, and the U.S. Navy and U.S. Coast Guard went head-to-head in basketball, running, ‘soccer’, tug-of-war, volleyball, and, er, cookery.
120921-N-ZE938-060
The Mexican patrol ship ARM Independencia in the foreground with guided-missile destroyer USS Gravely and Dauntless Picture: Mass Communication Specialist 3rd Class Frank J. Pikul
The Brazilian Navy took the honours in running and volleyball, the crew of USS Anzio triumphed in basketball and tug-of-war, while Dauntless proved the best in ‘soccer’ (yes, that surprised us too…) and cookery, where chefs were invited to prepare signature dishes from their homelands.
The victory in the football ‘world cup’ proved particularly sweet. “Brazil were our most difficult opponents,” said LS Martin Kelly, captain of Dauntless’ team.
“We just beat them with a 2-1 win that we scored in the last minute. It was good to play different countries all at the same time. At some times tensions were a little bit high, but we all shook hands at the end of the game.”
Dauntless alongside BNS Greenhalgh – formerly HMS Broadsword – in Key West. Picture: Lt Cdr Corey Barker, USN
As for the eight-day sea phase of UNITAS, it began with the ships sailing in company before the vessels faced various tests – the Americans shot down drone targets, while the Canadians put remote-controlled surface targets in the water to test the responses of the upper deck gun crew of Dauntless and other craft.
UNITAS is a wide-ranging test of the different navies to work together; the ships will also be on stand-by to provide assistance should a hurricane sweep through the region. It’s played out in the Gulf of Mexico and western Caribbean and is due to end on Friday.
Once UNITAS is completed, Dauntless will take up anti-drug-running patrols as part of the international clampdown on the narcotics trade in Caribbean waters and the Gulf of Mexico. She’s due back home in Portsmouth at the end of October.
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment
How did you like the post, leave a comment. I would appreciate hearing from you all. Best wishes from JC's Naval, Maritime and Military News