MEDICS IN PNG - Royal New Zealand Navy

Photos TE KAHA
A DAY IN THE LIFE
BY LET WARRICK HUNTER AND LET ANGELA BASHAM, FIRE CONTROL OFFICERS
FIRE CONTROLLERS
IN TE KAHA
OUR FRIGATE TE KAHA IS
CURRENTLY IN EAST ASIAN WATERS,
HEADING TO JAPAN AND CHINA
AFTER A SERIES OF EXERCISES WITH
OUR FPDA PARTNERS. THE SUCCESS
OF THE FRIGATE’S ACTIVITIES
DEPENDS IN LARGE PART ON
THE PEOPLE OF THE WEAPON
ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT,
WHO KEEP THE GUNS, RADARS
AND ALL THE OTHER EQUIPMENT
ON TOP LINE. TWO OF TE KAHA’S
ELECTRONIC TECHNICIANS GIVE AN
INSIGHT TO A DAY IN THEIR LIFE.
WHAT IS A WARSHIP?
LET Hunter with one of TE
KAHA’s 50 cal machine guns
The frigates are the pride of our Navy - the
jewels in the crown of our war-fighting capability.
To see TE KAHA in her splendour as
she slices effortlessly through unforgiving
waters, to hear her mighty 5” gun roar, to
detect the enemy beyond the horizon, these
invoke feelings of pride, of strength and - to
our enemies - fear. For this is what we are
trained to do, and it is what we do well.
Though consider for a moment what makes
a warship. A ship is a platform for carrying
cargo or personnel across the ocean - a
warship on the other hand is a platform for
carrying guns, missiles and sensors. The 5”
(127mm) gun, the Vertical Launch missile
system, the CIWS ‘Gatling gun’, long range
and target radars, an array of radios for com-
municating with ships, aircraft and land; it is
these that make our ship a warship, without
them we are well-trained (but not very luxurious)
passenger liner!
Enter the mighty Weapon Engineering department,
for without us the war-fighting capability
of our ship simply does not exist. All
this specialised gear is lovingly maintained
and in many cases operated by our dedicated
team of officers and sailors.
THE FIRE CONTROL OFFICER (FCO)
As FCOs we have to be prepared for any
eventuality, especially in any (hopefully unlikely)
incident where our ship may come
under attack. To practise for this, the FCO,
along with the Operations crew, spend long
hours in training and gunnery drills. Even
LET Hunter and LET
Basham in front of
the main mast.
The two LETs do a maintenance check on
one of TE KAHA’s target pointers.
“
when not closed-up, the FCO’s job is often
We close up for all gunnery, including CIWS
and 50 cal firings – in an AA shoot we keep an
eye on hostile aircraft tracks…
a busy one. The FCOs are also Combat
System maintainers, and our ‘part of ship’
includes the entire Combat System as well
as the Fire Control system, the interfaces to
the complex weaponry that our frigate the
capable combatant that it is. We both went
through the Combat System Maintenance
course in HMAS STIRLING, WA and the
Fire Control Officer’s course, which is held
in PHILOMEL.
0620: Early Bird PT – is there life at this
time of day? There’s certainly no sun!
0730: Breakfast - at least there’s cereal
left!
0800: Turn to
0830: System Operation Checks. Train up
the AET so they can do it next time
A typical day will consist of careful cleaning
and inspecting of our respective systems followed
by SOCs – system operation checks.
Due to the inherent adverse conditions at
sea (salt spray, constant motion, vibration) a
large part of our time is devoted to preventing
and, in rare cases, repairing, our beloved
electronic and weapon systems.
0900: FMMS (planned maintenance) jobs
– but all the Multi-function consoles and
Standard Interface Units are in use. Write
e-mails home instead
1030: Prepare for Gunnery brief. Tell off AB
for not ditching rubbish last night
1145: Gunnery brief. Present safety rules
for Anti-Aircraft firings.
1159: CO wants to see the BR (Book of
Reference) – hasty search in the technical
office!
1200: Lunch
Though we may not work in watches, we
are on call 24 hours a day, seven days a
week. We will often be found working long
after leave has been piped in a foreign port
just to ensure all are systems are operating
without defect or delay, so when it is time
to once again sail the briny deep we are
prepared for the next operation. During this
deployment we are also carrying out Quartermaster
duties in harbour – so when the
ship gets alongside we can look forward to
the Middle-Morning watch (0200-0800) just
to deprive the brain of precious sleep!
“
1245: Make sure Fire Control system is
working properly.
1248: Turn Director Control Unit off, kick it
a few times, turn it back on.
1255: Close up for gunnery
1300: AA firings – Yeah!
1430: Firings go well – bow down and say
thanks to the DCU for working properly
1431: Start compiling records
1500: Still compiling records. Get Muzzle
Velocity data from Jimmi
We close up for all gunnery, including
CIWS and .50cal firings. For an AA shoot we
stare intently at a radar picture, keeping an
eye on the hostile aircraft tracks flying in at
us. For Boarding ops the FCO closes up and
records what can be seen of the boarded
vessel with the Director TV camera. An FCO
is also expected to know how the equipment
throughout the ship works, such as the radars,
the gun turret and missile systems, and
so we can often be found working late into
the night, researching these other important
devices that we would be lost without.
1600: time for PT? Nah, did it this morning
- watch movie instead!
1730: Preps for scran
1750: Dinner – caught up with a couple of
the stokers. Hadn’t seen them all day
1815: Clean for evening rounds
1830: Rounds – re-scrub of the showers!
1900: Write Firing Advisory Note for next
week’s shoots
1930: Copy tactical files to MO (magneticoptical)
disk - hang out in Ops Room, eat
their vittles (victuals)
1950: Re-copy tactical files onto blank
disk – doh!
When the day is not filled with the loving
care and maintenance of our beloved Fire
Control System, it is often covered instead
by seemingly endless paperwork – preparations
for future gunnery, coordination of records
of past shoots, liaising with the OPSO
and PWO for accurate administration and
organisation of gunnery shoots and drills.
But all this hard work and effort is made
worthwhile by one overwhelming fact – we
get to shoot the gun and the missiles!
2020: Watch rest of movie in mess deck
2200: Close up in pit
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