Publication:The Fearless Times Issue 2 2009/Working Hard On Station

Eighty four days into our de-ployment, Toowoomba and her people remain focused on the task and future mission.

So much has been achieved since our departure. The ship has travelled 18,500 nautical miles, visited eight ports in five countries, interacted with 23 warships from seven nations and we have located, monitored and reported the position of many merchant vessels, coastal traders and dhows. This is all part of our contribution to Operation SLIPPER

Other statistics that are of interest include; our Chefs have prepared 62,000 meals and baked 2500 loaves of bread and 6000 bread rolls and we have all been kept awake with 82kg of Coffee. We have consumed 9050 cans of soft drink and eaten 14,200 lollies and chocolate bars. Our main engines have burnt just over 1 million litres of fuel and we have produced 2.1 million litres of fresh water. Our aircraft has flown 83 sorties with 127 flying hours. Taking everything our Ships Company does in our daily work, we have spent around 220,000 hours On Watch or On Duty. That's an average of 15 hours a day for every-one onboard.

Having just completed a much needed maintenance period in the UAE, we now prepare for a new phase of our tasking which involves of Anti Piracy Patrols of the North East African Coast.

I hope you all enjoy the sec-ond edition off our newsletter for this patrol as we share all our experiences with you.