Publication:Sea Talk Spring 2008/A long look at the RN

Three members of the RAN bade farewell to the RN’s Fleet amphibious flagship, HMS Bulwark in August after she returned to Devonport in south-east England after a two month deployment to the Baltic and Mediterranean.

SBLT Jodie Turkenburg, PONPC Lannah Coleman and LS Darren Pretious spent the summer in Bulwark as she took part in exercises and operations.

They joined the RN’s newest commando assault and command and control ship on the west coast of Scotland in late April and soon after found themselves in the Baltic exercising with the Danes, Swedes and Germans.

Since early July, the ship has been patrolling the Mediterrean as part of Operation Active Endeavour, working to counter terrorism and piracy in this strategically vulnerable part of the world. Operational standowns have included Barcelona and Toulon.

They were part of an annual tri-service exchange called Exercise Longlook, designed to further working relationships between the armed forces of the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand.

A long look at the RN So what’s different in the Northern Hemisphere? For a start, there are a lot more navies to work with.

“We’ve worked with eight countries – from the French to the Russians,” says SBLT Turkenburg. “Each navy has such different equipment and procedures. I was particularly impressed with the Swedes’ landing craft the CB90s, which do more than 30 knots fully laden.”

And how does the British sailor differ from his Australian counterpart? LS Pretious is unequivocal: “The Brits may be good at socialising, but we’re better at cricket, Rugby and barbies!”