HMS Severn says goodbye to Barbados
The Fishery Protection Squadron (FPS) enforces UK and EU fisheries legislation in order to ensure the long term sustainability of the UK fishing grounds. In addition, the three UK based Ships are the only warships on permanent patrol around the UK, contributing to the policing of UK waters and delivering an intrinsic element of the UKs Maritime Security.
From Barbados Advocate
HMS SEVERN has ended her eight month deployment to the Caribbean on an Atlantic Tasking Patrol (North) mission.
Before departing Barbados recently, Captain Lieutenant Commander Steve Banfield revealed that the British Warship visited 20 countries – making 28 port visits.
He explained to members of the media that the over 234 day period in the Caribbean provided reassurance that Her Majesty’s Government is engaged in the region.
During that time, counter – narcotic operations were conducted though the central and eastern Caribbean, working alongside a number of maritime enforcement agencies, as well as training an estimated 600 members of such agencies.
“We recently completed Exercise Trade Winds 2015 with 14 countries centred on disaster relief, and countering transnational crime at sea. Everywhere we visited we conducted training with the local coast guards – quite a lot with Barbados’ Coast Guard, hosting senior Engineering ratings and Officers on board to discuss engineering management practices.”
“The people who come on board learn from us about how the Royal Navy operates at sea. However, I also learn from them because the Caribbean is a region which at first I was not very familiar with. Having spent time with the region’s coast guards I learned how things work in the Caribbean, therefore when I am out doing counter narcotics operations I can determine when something doesn’t look right because it is not what normal behaviour is,” he pointed out.
Captain Banfield took the opportunity to commend the efforts of the Regional Security System (RSS), expressing that he was impressed with the level of interaction between all the islands.
“I have been massively impressed with how joined up the efforts are at sea in terms of keeping everybody safe, but also the counter narcotics and sharing of intelligence – a lot of it based around the Regional Security System,” he observed.
“A lot of narcotics, especially in the eastern Caribbean are being intercepted at the moment… I went in their new aircraft recently and there is excellent equipment on board; a real asset. Also they were up spotting for us while we are looking for drug runners or illegal fisherman.”
The Captain further revealed that HMS SEVERN will have steamed over 30,000 nautical miles by the time she returns to the United Kingdom, and held 91 official functions on board including capability demonstrations, lunches and tours. It is estimated that over 4,000 people would have visited the ship during the deployment.
While on its final visit to Barbados, the Ship continued to have visitors, including 11 children from the Irving Wilson School, one of the British High Commission’s charitable benefactors on the island. (TL)
For more on this story go to: http://www.barbadosadvocate.com/newsitem.asp?more=local&NewsID=44401
IMAGE: commons.wikimedia.org
