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| Sunday, 7 August 2005 |
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Hop on board, HMS York by Deepal Warnakulasuriya Fair winds, calm seas and warm evenings to organise a number of barbecues or film nights, yeah everything is there. Or interested in sports or want to keep fit? Then, come on board HMS York. HMS York, the newest and most modern of the Royal Navy's Type 42 Air Defence Destroyer, deployed from Portsmouth end of May 2005 arrived in Sri Lanka last week as a symbol of UK/Sri Lanka good relations and to strengthen the links further between the two navies. The warship is currently on an operational deployment to the Far East in support of UK Defence and Foreign policy. According to HMS York Commanding Officer Commander Matt Harvey who spoke to the Sunday Observer at the Colombo Port premises last week said that the ship's tasks also include assisting in post-tsunami reconstruction and participation in a multi-national exercise as the UK component of the Five Powers Defence Agreement. He also added that the ship also remains ready for immediate tasking at any time in response to world events fulfilling military and humanitarian roles. The 5 month deployment to the Far East forms part of the Five Powers Defence Agreement annual exercise which will see HMS York taking part in major exercises with foreign navies as well as taking part in defence diplomacy. This is the twelfth ship to bear the name, which is one of the oldest ship names in the Royal Navy with a record of 10 different warships. The last HMS York was an 8 inch cruiser and sister ship to HMS Exeter. Commissioned in 1930, she had a brief but very active war career ending as one of the casualties in the battle for Crete when she was disabled at Souda Bay on 26 March 1941. Later that spring she was scuttled to prevent her falling into enemy hands. This was launched on June 20, 1982 at Wallsend and accepted into service on March 25, 1985. She was first commissioned at Rosyth and at present in Portsmouth. Her funnel badge, a red cross with lions passant are from the coat of arms of the City of York and the ship's crest is the White Rose of York. The motto 'Bon Espoir' means 'Good Hope' which was the motto of Edmund Langley, the First Duke of York 1341-1402, who was the fifth son of Edward III. This is one of the Navy's 42-strong destroyer and frigate force, with 280 officers and men, and a propulsion system that can cover 7,000 miles without refuelling and can reach a maximum speed of 30 knots. The York joined in supporting UN sanctions against Iraq in the Arabian Gulf, with ten boarding operations. At present her primary task is to provide area air defence for a task force of ships by providing a "missile umbrella" or being a platform for fighter control. According to that she is ready to provide round-the-clock protection against threats to the flagship in the air, on the surface and below the surface. It has also been assigned on providing fire support to troops ashore, disaster relief work, and anti-terrorism and anti-drugs operations. A greatly enhanced electronic emissions detection ability in HMS York is probably the most modern in any navy worldwide and the hardware for a system called JTIDS has also been installed. This is a data link, which allows real time data transfer between air, surface and subsurface units, as well as automated target allocation. To carry out all these roles it has a varied array of weapons and sensors. Foremost is the Seadart missile system and integrated area air defence sensor suite. An incoming missile attack will initially be detected by the ship's long-range surveillance radar. As the missile nears radar tracking continues using the target indication radar, targets held by either of these radars are then allocated to one of two fire control radars. It will then acquire and track these targets and guide the Seadart missile to intercept and impact at ranges of up to 40 nautical miles. According to the Commander, the ship has a comprehensive fit of search and target indication radars as well as various electronic warning devices which together feed the centralised computer system with information to enable the air defence weapons to engage their targets'. He also added that the aircraft in the ship can achieve speeds of over 150 knots and was also fitted with comprehensive flight control systems and an advanced electronic warning devices. On a major lesson from the Falklands conflict of 1982, the York is fitted with two six-barrelled Vulcan Phalanx close range weapon systems on either beam, which have integrated radar and are capable of firing 20 mm ammunition at 4,500 rounds per minute. Although primarily an air defence ship, York maintains a formidable anti-submarine capability, including a medium range sonar for detection and Stingray torpedoes. These can be launched from the ship, or for longer range engagements from its Lynx Helicopter. This is guided to the submarine position where it drops a parachute-retarded torpedo, or depth charge, from a height of 400 feet. The Commanding Officer is satisfied with his crew over 280 men which has been divided amongst the four main departments: Operations, Supply and Secretariat, Weapons Engineering and Marine Engineering. Harvey said that everyone is an expert in his or her own field and in modern technical skills specially. The ship owns a team of 26 officers, 81 senior rate officers and another 194 crew members. |
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