Navy Ship Represents UK Defence to Australian Public

HMS Daring’s sailors say their participation in the Royal Australian Navy’s 100th birthday celebrations has been a ‘once-in-a-lifetime experience’. The Portsmouth-based Type 45 destroyer has been open to the Australian public for the past two days, with 50,000 people packing the wharves at Barangaroo to see the visiting warships.

Able Seaman Scott Beechey and Christopher Chappell stood at the foot of the gangway to their ship as a sell-out crowd toured HMS Daring in Sydney.

After taking part in two days of ceremonial fleet reviews in Sydney Harbour to mark the 100th birthday of the Royal Australian Navy, Daring and other warships came alongside at Barangaroo – close to the world-famous bridge spanning the harbour.

For two days the warships, from the host nation as well as visitors from around the globe, were open to the public with all 50,000 tickets sold.

No other ship has travelled as far to attend the centenary – Daring has clocked up over 17,000 miles getting to Sydney via Puerto Rico, Panama, San Diego, Hawaii, the Marshall Islands and Melbourne on the first four and a half months of a nine-month global deployment.

“We’ve been working towards it for a long time and Sydney is a place the majority of people would love to say they’ve been to,” said warfare rating Leading Seaman Katharine Marsh.

“We recently underwent a maintenance period in Melbourne to ensure the reputation of the Royal Navy was kept high in the presentation stakes during the International Fleet Review.”

Weapon engineer Petty Officer Roy Fenwick said his shipmates had loved all the stops along the way.

“It was very different from last year when we were in the Gulf,” he said.

“It’s like Trafalgar 200 all over again.”

On Saturday Prince Harry took the salute aboard Australian survey ship HMAS Leeuwin as it sailed passed Daring during a Ceremonial Fleet Review.

An estimated one million people lined the Sydney waterfront to watch proceedings, which also saw a flypast involving Daring’s Lynx helicopter.

Daring’s 815 NAS Lynx helicopter decamped from the ship to HMAS Albatross, an Australian Fleet Air Arm base 110 miles south of Sydney, to prepare for the review’s flypast.

There she joined aircraft from the RAN’s 723, 716 and 808 Naval Air Squadrons practising for formation flying over Sydney Harbour.

“816 Squadron were great hosts, and took the time to show us some flying in the Tianjara Flying Area – definitely not your average day in the RN,” said Lt Alex Tuckwood, observer in Daring’s Lynx.

“The ship’s company were extremely excited to be part of IFR – a truly once-in-a-lifetime experience.

“It’s rare for the Royal Navy to travel to this part of the world so we’ve taken every opportunity available to strengthen our ties with Australia and the Australian Defence Force.”

Celebrations in the harbour concluded on Saturday night with a stunning firework display and music and film multimedia extravaganza, with images projected on to Sydney Opera House.

Today Commander Angus Essenhigh, HMS Daring’s Commanding Officer has been representing the RN at a memorial service at Sydney’s Cenotaph for all members of the Royal Australian Navy killed over the past 100 years.

And tomorrow there will be a 90-minute parade by sailors from participating navies through the heart of the city.

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Press Release, October 09, 2013; Image: Navy