The Royal Navy’s former flagship was decommissioned early following the 2010 defence review and is being towed to Turkey for scrap.

As part of a £2.9m deal Ark Royal will go to the same yard that took its sister ship Invincible.

The Invincible Class aircraft carrier saw active service in Bosnia and during the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

Formally decommissioned in 2011, the Harrier jets that flew from Ark Royal were sold as spares to the US.

n.b. Article courtesy of the BBC, click here to read more.

A very interesting evening for the cadets in which they had the opportunity to try on various safety items used by lifeboatmen and women when on rescue missions.

The cadets also had the chance to show their knowledge of sea, beach and water safety awareness.

A special thanks must go to the ladies from the RNLI for giving up their time and giving such a great presentation, which the cadets certainly enjoyed.

Below are some photos of the evening – click a picture to enlarge view

As well as splicing, rigging and rope work, an introduction to sail making was also offered for the candidates to learn.

The course members worked extremely hard and as can be seen from the photographs produced some good standards of work.

Click photo below, for further photos.

It proved to be an excellent course which was conducted by Capt (M) Nigel Warren and his wife PO Betty Warren.

All candidates were successful and as can be seen from the photographs, as well as learning the staff enjoyed the course.

Click photo below, for further photos of the course.

Oceanne has been a loyal and dedicated cadet at TS Ocean where her contributions have helped the Unit to be one of the most successful in the Navy Training Corps.

This is the second Tryangle award presented to the Corps in 2013, which are awarded annually by the Worcestershire Council for Voluntary Youth Services and acknowledges the “tremendous things that young people are doing in Worcestershire”.

The previous award was awarded to the Navy Training Field Gun team.

Being briefed on the Friday night, staff were thrown into a full blown Exercise Without Cadets, taking on the roles of Company Commander, Troop Commanders etc, and working on the basis that there were 100 cadets on the ground with them.

With Company and Troop orders being formulated, and delivered, the staff worked well into the early hours of Saturday Morning with the final briefing ending at around 0130, with a planned move out of base at 0845.

Without boring the readers too much the exercise went from a planned patrol through an urban area, to a full amphibious approach and landing along a canal in Canadian canoes, to a controlled landing and the creation of a Company level PHB.

After a quick brew, it was on to an advance through the training area, avoiding enemy operatives on the ground to a Forward Operating Post and RV before entering the next phase of search and rescue for a friendly and injured agent.

Having located and assessed the injured party, it was into the extraction phase, and a final amphibious return journey and patrol back to base.

Many thanks to the DSMO and his contacts for putting on a great exercise for us, to our new friends at Brownhills for their hospitality, and to the staff at Wednesbury for once again being excellent hosts for a table top exercise on the Sunday.

Lt. P Griffin (M) NTC

Any potential cadets or staff or anyone willing to help or support the Unit are very welcome to come along and meet us to find out more.

For more information/point of contact:

E-Mail: co.faversham@navytrainingcorps.org
Text: 07400 636849