IN THE NAVY! YOU CAN SAIL THE SEVEN SEAS!
Being one of the young up and comers in the bank (ha ha), I was asked to go on a leadership workshop. As part of this workshop we would be going to the Royal Navy base in Portsmouth to have a go on the navy’s training apparatus. It is essentially a replica of a boat that was built onshore that they use to train their sailors in the very important art of plugging holes in your boat while at sea to stop it sinking.
It was fucking cold being November and I really wasn’t looking forward to going swimming but as I sat through the initial briefing I began to think to get into it and was starting to get excited (keep it clean boys). We were issued our overalls, dry suit, boots and helmet which we changed into and headed to the workshop for instruction on the different ways of fixing holes in ships after a rousing rendition of Y.M.C.A. As the instructor explained the seventh method I began to panic after realising I had forgotten the first six. He smirked as he mentioned that the water temperature would be a chilly 13 degrees centigrade.
As team leader in the diesel room I was expected to stand back and tell people what to do. I was shitting myself while trying to remember the builds I would need to do. Anyway it was too late for that now. The simulated attack began and we were ordered into the breach. The lights went out as the sirens began to blaze away. Smoke billowed into the room as I swung myself around the rim of the hatch to avoid the 120 psi jet of water that was shooting through it and climbed down into the diesel room. I stood there watching the water seeping through the hatch in the floor till a shout from my team brought me back to reality and I grabbed the wedges from them. The boat began to rock from side to side and water began flooding in. We immediately started work on plugging the holes in the wall and began the build on the hatch on the floor as we had been taught. Going back up the ladder to collect the stuff we needed to get the repairs in place. The water only got up to our knees and I was beginning to think that it was easy.
On came the second stage. This time when I entered the diesel room the water was already chest high and a jet of water smacked me in the back of the head as I came down the ladder. With the boat rocking I looked for a handhold to wait for my team to come down. With hindsight it was incredibly funny. Some of the girls in my team were already treading water as I grabbed them to stop them from floating away. Water was gushing in from multiple holes in the hull. It was so powerful that we had to literally hold people in place to stop them being knocked off their feet while they attempted to knock wedges into the holes.
This was the most fun I’ve ever had on a training course. Despite the mild hypothermia characterised by uncontrollable shivering and my inability to put two words together it was an absolute blast. What did I learn from this experience? That unless the West Indies Navy are recruiting to cruise the Caribbean and are offering essential training in water sports and cocktail mixing the Navy is definitely not for me. That in an actual war time situation I would probably crap myself. Mechanised Accounting Division anyone?
It was fucking cold being November and I really wasn’t looking forward to going swimming but as I sat through the initial briefing I began to think to get into it and was starting to get excited (keep it clean boys). We were issued our overalls, dry suit, boots and helmet which we changed into and headed to the workshop for instruction on the different ways of fixing holes in ships after a rousing rendition of Y.M.C.A. As the instructor explained the seventh method I began to panic after realising I had forgotten the first six. He smirked as he mentioned that the water temperature would be a chilly 13 degrees centigrade.
As team leader in the diesel room I was expected to stand back and tell people what to do. I was shitting myself while trying to remember the builds I would need to do. Anyway it was too late for that now. The simulated attack began and we were ordered into the breach. The lights went out as the sirens began to blaze away. Smoke billowed into the room as I swung myself around the rim of the hatch to avoid the 120 psi jet of water that was shooting through it and climbed down into the diesel room. I stood there watching the water seeping through the hatch in the floor till a shout from my team brought me back to reality and I grabbed the wedges from them. The boat began to rock from side to side and water began flooding in. We immediately started work on plugging the holes in the wall and began the build on the hatch on the floor as we had been taught. Going back up the ladder to collect the stuff we needed to get the repairs in place. The water only got up to our knees and I was beginning to think that it was easy.
On came the second stage. This time when I entered the diesel room the water was already chest high and a jet of water smacked me in the back of the head as I came down the ladder. With the boat rocking I looked for a handhold to wait for my team to come down. With hindsight it was incredibly funny. Some of the girls in my team were already treading water as I grabbed them to stop them from floating away. Water was gushing in from multiple holes in the hull. It was so powerful that we had to literally hold people in place to stop them being knocked off their feet while they attempted to knock wedges into the holes.
This was the most fun I’ve ever had on a training course. Despite the mild hypothermia characterised by uncontrollable shivering and my inability to put two words together it was an absolute blast. What did I learn from this experience? That unless the West Indies Navy are recruiting to cruise the Caribbean and are offering essential training in water sports and cocktail mixing the Navy is definitely not for me. That in an actual war time situation I would probably crap myself. Mechanised Accounting Division anyone?
posted by Hooner at 5:15 pm
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