Survey ship HMS Scott has arrived back in the UK, say the Royal Navy.
The Royal Navy sya in a news release that this is the first landfall for the first time since December the 22nd in Punta Arenas in Chile after 95 days continuously at sea.
“Without a traditional homecoming due to the coronavirus situation, the returning 48 sailors, led by Commander James Baker who hails from the Cornish port, instead received a free delivery of pasties from port staff who will now get to work carrying out maintenance on the 430ft-long vessel.
The Devonport-based ship is used to scour the world’s oceans gathering data which assists both military operations and can also update seafaring charts produced for mariners worldwide. She’s been away from the UK since the beginning of June last year, focusing her efforts in the North and South Atlantic Oceans, plus the Caribbean. Although Scott herself has been deployed for nearly ten months, her 48 crew have not been away for longer than around 20 weeks; one third of the ship’s company changes roughly every ten weeks to sustain the 13,000-tonne vessel on long-term operations.
It’s the first time in eight years that Scott has visited the South Atlantic, beginning in the fearsome waters between Antarctica and the southern tip of the Americas – Drake’s Passage – where the ship helped the Chileans in the search for a missing C130 Hercules aircraft using state-of-the-art sonar scanners and other sensors.”
The ship spent New Year’s Eve off the remote New Island at the western edge of the Falklands, say the Royal Navy.
‘Commander James Baker who hails from the Cornish port’ – I presume that’s Falmouth but unless I’m missing something it doesn’t say that on here, at least.
How fitting:
“#OnThisDay or possibly yesterday 1912 Captain Robert Falcon Scott from #plymouth and the remainder of his party died in the #Antarctic whilst returning from the South Pole. His last diary entry (29th March) read. ‘For gods sake, look after our people.’ A message for us all.
https://twitter.com/OnthisdayRN/status/1244485285360087041?s=20
Anyone know what the deck markings are for?
Maybe a designated area for Helicopter resupply drops etc,on another note the Hull shape reminds me of a Batch 1 Type 22 Frigate.
Similar markings on the other 2 Survey ships too.
This was asked here before, I forget what the answer was though.
Maybe airborne RAS?
Shuffleboard??
Looks like it’s being used for drones these days, prob RAS.
Is there any reason why HMS Scott is so much bigger than her predecessor?
The Navy describe her as the 5th largest vessel in the fleet, yet she has no dedicated helipad, nor hangar. Granted her primary role is mapping the sea floor, but she has done an equal amount of time working with the minesweeper group. Surely having a helipad plus hangar would make her more flexible if not capable. It’s noted that her scheduled out of service date (2022) is in a couple of years. Perhaps a more rounded vessel could be designed and built as her replacement?