HMS Brocklesby

Military experience

James (Jim) Buck was born in Swansea in 1969, raised and educated in the wilds of Staffordshire. He left Thomas Alleynes High School, Uttoxeter to join the Royal Navy in 1987. Initial officer training at the Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC) Dartmouth, included a short deployment to the Caribbean on the Dartmouth Training Squadron Destroyer, HMS Bristol.

He started his Fleet Time training onboard the newly launched HMS Cumberland before transferring to the Fishery Protection Vessel HMS Jersey, where he started his first of many appointments as a Navigating Officer.

Following Officer of the Watch training at HMS Mercury, he returned to sea aboard HMS Kedleston a Northern Ireland Patrol Vessel as the Navigating Officer. He then transferred to HMS Chiddingfold, where he undertook several mine hunting and sweeping duties around Northern Europe and the Mediterranean.

Attending the Frigate Navigating Officers course in 1992, he then served on the carrier HMS Ark Royal during the Former Yugoslavia and Kosovo campaigns. Following this, he assisted in setting up the Amethyst Bridge Simulator at HMS Dryad which also incorporated a period acting as the Fleet Ready Navigator, with periods serving onboard HMS Peacock in Hong Kong and HMS Brave.

After attending Initial Staff Course at the Royal Naval College Greenwich and a period onboard HMS Northumberland he again returned to HMS Dryad, this time for Principle Warfare Officer (PWO) training. Graduating in Underwater Warfare this was followed by an appointment to HMS Birmingham as the PWO(U), which included a tour to the Gulf in support of air operations in Iraq. On finally paying the ship off in Plymouth in 1999 he finished this particular appointment as the Executive Officer (XO) onboard.

In 2000 Jim attended the Specialist Navigation Course, where he finished top student and with a capital ship recommend. The first appointment as a SPEC(N) was as the Squadron Navigator to the Second Frigate Squadron. Subsequent appointments have included Navigating Officer HMS Endurance and HMS Bulwark, the latter from build in Barrow. It has also included five periods as a ‘Sea Trainer’ at the Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) organisation in Plymouth, the final time as the lead Navigation Specialist.

This period of advanced navigation was interrupted on four occasions, the first an attachment to the Commander United Kingdom Task Force, to assist in the planning of the security arrangements for the Trafalgar 200 celebrations in Portsmouth. The second was to undertake the Advanced Command and Staff Course in the desert Kingdom of Kuwait. The third as the Executive Officer and Second in Command of HMS Scott. This last position involved two deployments to both the Atlantic and Indian Ocean conducting detailed hydrographic surveys. It also benefited from a watch rotational system meaning half the time spent onboard was in command of the 12,000 tonne vessel. The last interuption was to act as the Chief of Ground Operations (Forward) to the multinational United Nations contingent deployed on peace enforcement operations in the Democratic Republic of Congo, controlling some 19,500 troops in the dark heart of Africa some 1500 nm from the sea.

The final appointment, prior to assuming Command of MCM2 Crew 3, was as the Fleet Surface Navigator in the Fleet HQ in Portsmouth. This was a rewarding period influencing both the policy and conduct of navigation with the Royal Navy, as well as influencing the purchase of new equipment.