IF YOU want to find the Navy’s No.1 engineer where would you go?
The flagship HMS Queen Elizabeth perhaps? Or maybe a nuclear-powered submarine, a machine more complex than the Space Shuttle.
Try one of the smallest units in the Fleet… and some of the smallest craft to fly the White Ensign.
Chief Petty Officer (ETME) Jamie Dougal heads the engineering team of the Royal Navy Gibraltar Squadron who maintain brand new patrol craft HMS Cutlass and Dagger, plus four Pacific 24 ribs.
As Squadron Marine Engineer Officer Jamie has been instrumental in leading the transition from the P2000s Dasher and Pursuer to their replacements,
While mechanical trials were taking place with the new vessels, Jamie and his team had to maintain both them, plus the squadron’s existing boats so they were always at immediate notice for sea for tasking, ensuring the squadron’s output was not reduced during the transition.
Jamie and his fellow engineers were also required to create and develop new Standing Operating Procedures for machinery/steering breakdowns and Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear, Damage Control incidents afloat and alongside, all of which have since been endorsed by Fleet Operational Sea Training.
When not maintaining the small squadron flotilla in their workshops and pontoons near The Tower, the team also provide the marine engineering officers for both Dagger and Cutlass when out on patrol in the Rock’s territorial waters.
All of which – and much more – ensured Jamie, who’d previously helped bring patrol ship HMS Forth (now on duty around the Falklands) into service, was named Royal Navy Engineer of the Year.
He flew to London to collect his award from Master Audrey Cannon at a ceremony at the Guildhall, London attended by his family.
“It’s an absolute honour to be recognised for this highly prestigious award. I would like to thank my dedicated and highly-trained team of engineers at the RN Gibraltar Squadron for their hard-work in achieving the challenges of bringing the new Cutlass-class patrol vessels into service,” he said.
