HMS Lancaster has completed a two-week solo patrol of the Arctic.
According to a Royal Navy news release:
“For the second time in 2021, the Portsmouth-based frigate ventured into the frozen wastes on a 3,000-mile round-trip through the Norwegian Sea and into the Arctic Circle – the latest Royal Navy vessel to head to the High North over the past few years.
As a ‘lone rider’ the ship had to rely on herself for all eventualities – food, fuel, emergencies – and made a quick pit stop in the Shetland Islands to top up the fuel tanks before heading out into the open ocean.
With temperatures in the Arctic barely reaching double figures even in late summer and the water an unforgiving 6 Celsius – meaning hypothermia sets in in minutes if anyone falls in – Lancaster’s crew used the journey north to prepare. Practising these emergency situations is vital for training up new sailors during their first time at sea and to refresh the skills of those with more than their fair share of experience.
That included dealing with mock fires and evacuating a casualty by helicopter to hone the skills of both the sickbay team and the crew of the Wildcat helicopter from 815 Naval Air Squadron.”
The Royal Navy also said that once her patrol was complete, the ship turned around and made her way for Belfast for a short logistics stop before joining Royal Navy and international warships taking part in the Joint Warrior exercise which takes place off north-west Scotland until the beginning of October.
Brrr!
But on a serous note: Any of the RF frequency types on here know if the aurora interferes with the radar/RF systems?
HF gets hit by Auroras
From experience of working up their and down at the other end radars have never had an issue. Satcoms sometimes have issues as they are looking at the satellites which are really close to the horizon and sometimes get wooded.
Cheers for the info. I always stayed clear of the Tels and radar Techs and stuck to my artillery and controls!
Ian, surely RADAR is vital for counterbattery fire. So I hope you didn’t stay that clear. I remember when Cymbeline was state of the art. Back then, so was I.
We had one Radar Tech in the fitter section to look after the Cymbeline and ZB298’s. I spent a lot of time as the battery ECE repairing the Wankel engined generators including the rotor tip seals.
There’s a lot of murmers in the scientific world at the moment talking of Solar storms and its affect on everything from satellites ,down too power grid transformers, overloading with excess static and electro magnetism which could lead tòo Internet going down but wonderful Aurora’s North and south whoopee
The Auroras are amazing to see. The YouTube videos do not do them justice. Even more amazing they are the product of the earths magnetic field. Without which we world be truly Donald Ducked. It’s visual reassurance that all is as it should be.
Point of interest and food for thought. The earths magnetic field has reversed many many times. I wonder what happens during the change?
Do we loose it’s protection until it re-establishes
Thanks George, magnetic pole reversal , geologists have studied this phenoninum The only thing is that it doesn’t happen that often ,let’s hope it’s nothing like the Film The Core .
Off topic but it looks like Babcock lost out on the Greek order
https://www.france24.com/en/video/20210928-greece-to-buy-three-frigates-from-france
Always a bit of a longshot considering the relations between France and Greece and what the former are offering. Type 31 itself may be a good option but we have virtually nothing to offer as their interim frigate solution.
Poland looks to be a much better prospect!
Do them a part swap for 150000 beryl assault rifles, in return for t31. Im not sure why we dont do more of that kind of thing with close allies