Operation Sail 2012 was broken into three main areas, Town
Point, Fort Norfolk, and West Ghent. The West Ghent Pier contained two of my favorite
ships from OPSAIL 2012 in Norfolk. The first was the Royal Fleet Auxiliary
Argus (A-135), and the Her Danish Majesty’s Ship Esbern Snare (L-17). The
previous day both ships had been closed for tours, so in response I made sure they
were my first stop on Saturday.
In talking to the Royal Navy (RN) Petty Officer standing gangway
petty officer of the watch, the previous day the RFA Argus had hosted all the
other visiting vessel Captains and local British Armed Service personnel for a dinning
in event for both OPSAIL and the Diamond Jubilee for HM Queen Elizabeth II. The Petty Officer told me that the RFA Argus
was currently conducting an Atlantic Patrol and that her primary role would be
to provide Humanitarian aid and Disaster relief support to the UK’s British
Overseas Territories and Commonwealth Nation islands during the Caribbean
hurricane season.
The tour of the ship started with the bridge of the ship,
moved down to the sickbay of the ship, into the hanger area of the ship and
finally out onto the flight deck. It was
easily the most detailed tour of all the warships present, and was a blast. You
could sense the pride in this vessel from all of the ship’s company I was able
to interact with, whether Royal Fleet Auxiliary, Royal Navy or Royal Marines. The RFA Argus does not comply with the Geneva
Convention’s definition of a ‘hospital ship’ as she is fitted with self-defense
guns and decoys and may have operational units embarked, i.e. Royal Marine
Commandos. Thus RFA Argus is not classified as a hospital ship and does not
display the International Red Cross symbol. Her secondary role is to provide
specialist aviation training facilities, which leads back to her days as a
helicopter carrier. RFA Argus has served in the Falklands War, Gulf War I, and
Gulf War II for major conflicts, with half a dozen smaller sorties as well such
as the action in Libya. She started life
as a Merchant Ship for the Falklands conflict, she was then refit as an
Aviation Training Ship/Helicopter Carrier, with a more recent refit making her
a Casualty Recovery ship. The best way to describe the RFA Argus is a cross
between an LHD and the USNS Mercy or Comfort.
The bridge of the RFA Argus with the Lieutenant (RN) leading the tour.
The RFA Deck Officer,a civilian sailor.
Inside the RFA Argus sickbay. The vessel has over 100 beds for different levels of care.
Inside one of the dry stores bays, currently loaded with supplies for disaster relief.
The world's only afloat CT scanner.
One of two Westland Lynx onboard.
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