Chiddingfold leads the way

Royal Navy mine hunter HMS Chiddingfold, along with various other coalition warships, recently took part in ‘MCMEX 17-2’ in the international waters just outside of Bahrain.

The mine-clearance exercise, aimed at creating assurance for the ships themselves as well as our allies, consisted of individual units clearing areas of ‘mine threats’, in order to exercise their ability to do so for real at a moments notice.

Chiddingfold led the charge, finding and recovering five drill mine shapes in the first week of the exercise.

A vital part of the mine hunting capability is the diving element on board, which was tasked with recovering the mines themselves.

Mine Clearance Diving Officer, Lieutenant David Griffiths, said, “It was great to get the lads out in tough conditions, do what we are trained to do. As divers, its not often we get to work this closely on real shapes”.

Lieutenant Commander David Louis, Commanding Officer of HMS Chiddingfold, said, “I’m very proud of the fact that my team has excelled in this exercise. It’s fantastic to work closely with our allies from the US as well as our sister ships from the UK.”

MCMEX 17-2 consisted of Royal Naval ships Chiddingfold, Bangor and Penzance, as well as US allies USS Devastator, Gladiator and Dextrous.