Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST), Rear Admiral Will Warrender CBE opened the new Queen Elizabeth Class Ship Control Centre Training System at HMS Sultan during a recent visit to the Establishment.
The QEC Ships Control Centre Training System (SCCTS) simulates the ships’ Integrated Platform Management System on both HMS Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales.
As explained, the simulator enables students and ships’ teams to conduct synthetic training that almost matches what personnel would see on the live platform.
The facility can mimic machinery breakdowns and system problems that a marine engineer would be likely to see onboard.
From leading engineering technicians, through to senior engineering officers, training is conducted as if on watch, so all the different positions work together and their reactions to different situations can be analysed.
The QEC Ships Control Centre simulator cost £1.9 million and was funded through the Aircraft Carrier Alliance as part of the wider QEC training solution.
It is developed through close liaison between L3 MAPPS, the Future Training Unit and the Defence College of Technical Training’s Defence School of Marine Engineering (DSMarE) at HMS Sultan.
The simulator has already gained huge interest from both HMS Queen Elizabeth and Prince of Wales and the hope is that, once the simulator is proven, it could even be used to endorse personnel for the platform.
As approved by the First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Philip Jones, the SCCTS will carry the name HERMES in recognition of important RN carriers of the past, with previous iterations serving in WW2 and then again during the Falklands Conflict.