HMS Collingwood welcomes foreign liaison staff

HMS Collingwood recently threw its doors open to thirty-one Foreign Defence Attachès, giving them the chance to view training at the Fareham establishment.

The visit was part of the MoD Foreign Liaison Staff annual visits programme and followed on from previous visits made to BRNC Dartmouth and HMS Raleigh.

At Collingwood, the visitors were shown the instruction available to sailors once they had reached Phases 2 or 3 of their training.

After a welcome by Commanding Officer Captain Rob Vitali, the day began with a visit to Mercury Building where the guests were given an overview of the training offered to Officers and Ratings in the Warfare Support specialisation.

From there, they visited Endeavour Building to experience training on the Establishment’s state-of-the-art Bridge Simulator which gives Navigation Officers the skills they need to navigate various types of craft in different challenging conditions.

They then moved to Marlborough Building where the emphasis was on Weapons Engineering Training, with a demonstration of the 4.5 Mark 8 Gun, the Automated Small Calibre Gun (ASCG) and the Phalanx trainer which gives trainees a taste of the radar-guided weapon currently fitted to the Queen Elizabeth class carriers.

The visit concluded with a farewell address by Captain Vitali thanking the guests for their interest in HMS Collingwood’s Maritime Warfare School to which Captain Wolter Sillevis Smitt, the Netherlands Defence and Naval Attaché, replied.

He said, “We have all had a very good impression of the excellent facilities you have here.

"They are all highly organised and we noticed the students here are well taken care of and seem to feel at home. Thank you to you and all your staff who made our visit so interesting and enjoyable.”