| News - 26th November 2004 |
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Since the last update, HMS ENDURANCE has completed formal inspections confirming that we are ready to go on our deployment. Outstanding works have been carried out with assistance from FSL, the local Portsmouth contractors and welders from Norway, where the Ship was built.
The Whole Ship has been busy preparing for the deployment. The Logistics Department has also been coordinating a major re-store. Officers of the Watch have been over to HMS COLLINGWOOD to conduct training in the Bridge Simulator and the communicators have been working hard to try and get systems up and running.
The Survey department have been out around Portsmouth trialling the survey boats that were refurbished during the refit period. Lt Cdr Tabbeart, the Charge Surveyor and CPO(SR) Smith attended a Magnetics Course in Hartland, Devon as part of their continuous training and profession development. This will allow them to learn how to measure the earth’s magnetic field while we are down in the Antarctic. This data is used for correction data for magnetic compasses and used for geological studies. There was also a departmental trip to Delle Norte for instruction on using the Ship’s GPS systems. The Flight and Royal Marine Detachment have recently returned from France where they were carrying out mountain winter flying and cold weather survival training. They also had the chance to improve their snow boarding and skiing skills during their free time.
Nadine Salmon, director of ‘Avantages’ who teaches English donated sets of English text books. We will pass these onto a school in South America during our return trip from Antarctica. 30 members of the Ship’s Company attended a reception in the Portsmouth Guildhall on 13 December 2004 hosted by the Portsmouth Council. The Ship is luck to be affiliated to this organisation and we hope to continue to strengthen these ties in the future. Prior to Christmas leave, HMS ENDURANCE will be returning to sea for a short period in order to test the boiler repairs, refresh the Ship’s Company on sea drills and put all the systems to work in preparation for the 2005 season. HMS ENDURANCE would like to wish you a ‘Happy Christmas’ from Portsmouth. This is the first time that the Ship has been back in UK for the festive season since 1999. |
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