Navy People: Making the news not just watching it
13 January 2011
On New Year’s Eve, Broken Hill local Rhys Ryan was somewhere in the middle of the ocean on his way to participate in a maritime security and counter-piracy patrol in the Gulf of Aden as part of Operation Slipper.
Rhys and his 190 shipmates aboard HMAS Stuart won’t return to Australia until the middle of 2011.
“Growing up I played for West Broken Hill Football Club and worked at Big W, I never really thought about the Navy as a career”
“The family went on a cruise when I was 15. I thought being on a ship at sea was pretty cool so I looked into the different jobs and that was that”
“I graduated HMAS Creswell (Royal Australian Naval College) as a Midshipman and for the last five years I’ve worked on patrol boats, frigates and amphibious transport ships. On top of my Australian Defence Medal I’ve been awarded the Australian Service Medal for Operation Quickstep, where we were ready to evacuate Foreign Nationals from Fiji in the event of a military coup.
“After this trip I’ll be eligible for the Australian Active Service Medal and the Afghanistan campaign medal — real operations are what I joined the Navy for.”
HMAS Stuart is one of eight ANZAC class frigates in the RAN. Its formidable armament includes a 5-inch gun, Harpoon anti-ship missiles, self-defence missiles, torpedoes and a Sea Hawk helicopter for long-range patrol and reporting.
“I’ll be on the bridge as the Officer of the Watch,” said Rhys. “My job involves navigation, collision avoidance and the routine running of the ship. It can be a lot of hard work but also very rewarding. You make everything happen.”
Stuart will be part of the combined maritime forces working to counter terrorism, and piracy and promote the maritime environment as a safe place for mariners with legitimate business
“It’s strange to think that instead of watching the news, we’ll be part of it.”
After returning to Australia Rhys is looking forward to heading home to Broken Hill for some well deserved leave.
blog comments powered by Disqus
