Fire at night – and day – as St Albans hammers away on the Norwegian range

Fire at night – and day – as St Albans hammers away on the Norwegian range
by rnn@codestorm.co.uk(Royal Navy News) via Royal Navy News
FOR a brief second the darkness of the Norwegian night is lit up by the flash of fire, the silence ripped apart by the roar of gunfire This is 88lb of steel and thunder leaving the barrel of HMS St Albans’ main gun at more than twice the speed of sound. The Portsmouth-based warship put down 160 rounds of high explosive on to an island range by day and night during training involving the Royal Navy, British Army and Norwegian commandos. The night shoot was by far the more dramatic as the stillness of the Norwegian night was broken first by the crackle of a radio message as a spotter on a remote, windswept island calmly relayed the target co-ordinates as H-Hour approached. Under the faint glow of the Northern Lights, there was brief, but impressive display of neon light from the base bleed – a clever pyrotechnic in the base of the shell designed to reduce aerodynamic drag – following the words “Four-five, engage!” in St Albans’ operations room, deep in the bowels of the ship. And a few seconds later there was the distant crump of the shell impacting on Norwegian rock and earth ten miles away. The shoot was the most comprehensive test for the gun, which was installed during a £25m revamp completed in the Saint’s home base last year. The frigate was the last ship in the Fleet to receive the latest version of the 4.5in gun, which has served the Royal Navy for more than 40 years, swapping the original curved model for the angular Mod 1 – nicknamed Kryten after the Red Dwarf character with similar rigid features. “This exercise was the most stressful test the gun has had to date and thankfully it performed really well,” said ‘gun buster’ PO Lisa Lee, whose team of engineers were called on to fix the ammunition feed mid-shoot so the gunnery could continue. “It was particularly challenging but we pulled together and got the gun back on line. Some day troops on the ground may have to rely on it.” (Gun)bustin' makes us feel good… The gunnery team and PWO students – and a couple of empty shells The gunnery was directed by the experts of 148 Battery Royal Artillery, a Royal Artillery Naval Gunfire Liaison Officer and Norwegian Navy Coastal Ranger Commandos. It came hot on the heels of another shoot off the Dorset coast as part of a week of training for the Royal Navy’s prospective principal warfare officers. Seven students qualified as bombardment control officers, among them Lt Chantal Strawbridge who’ll soon be joining the Saint as the frigate’s expert in anti-submarine warfare. “Qualifying in bombardment control in the ship I’ll eventually join was a real bonus,” she said. “The week put everything I have learned in a year-long course into practice. Thanks to the quality of the training and the time spent training in simulators ashore, we were well prepared.”

Navy News – Reporting from the Fleet