A group of RMYC members were treated yesterday to a tour round our affiliated warship, HMS Mersey.
Led by Second Lieutenant Owen Moore, we learned about the Mersey’s recent deploymnets and had a comprehensive tour of the ship’s systems. Most recently HMS Mersey had been deployed on Operation Isotrope, the government response to the migrant crisis in the English Channel. The crew have also been engaged in delivering advanced navigation training around the Scottish islands and have engaged in joint NATO exercises in the Baltic, visiting Sweden, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Finland, welcoming the latter into the NATO fold. During that two-week deployment they travelled over 4000 miles.
The group was able to check out one of the ship’s two water-jet powered RIBs, capable of 38 knots. We also visited the bridge to view the state-of-the-art navigational equipment and monitoring systems and learned about the ship’s armourments including the 20 mm Oerlikon cannon on the foredeck. The Vice Commodore can be seen below taking aim at a passing tug.
Finally we visited the wardroom and met the ship’s two longest-serving crew members – the goldfish.
Many of us left with significant RIB-envy, tempered only by the chance to sample the Eurovision vibe on the Liverpool waterfront. Many thanks to SLt Moore.
