May 2012, Issue 166 - Royal New Zealand Navy

te kaha's dre
driving a warship
“I’m Sarah, I drive a warship.” It’s the
party-stopping line to stop them all and
it’s one that Ensign Sarah Thomas, just
turned 20, from Thames, uses with pride.
Currently a Bridge watchkeeper on HMNZS
TE KAHA, she operates during her shifts all
the Bridge equipment from the radar to the
levers that determine the frigate’s speed.
ENS Thomas joined the Navy in February
2010 fresh from finishing Year 13 at Thames
High School to get experiences, skills, training
and travel. She’s had all in abundance, most
recently with TE KAHA’s intense six-week
Work Up exercises between Devonport
Naval Base, Sydney and Perth climaxing in
the Directed Readiness Evaluation off Perth
in late March.
“I came straight from Thames to DNB for
the Junior Officers’ Common Training (JOCT).
I don’t know what I was expecting, perhaps
a lot of running, cleaning and ironing, and
there was. But we also did weapons training,
Damage Control training, even a trip on SPIRIT
OF NEW ZEALAND, where yes, I climbed up
the masts. I‘ve always liked heights, so I had
no problems with that whatsoever.”
Her JOCT was followed by the basic
Officer of the Watch (OOW) course where
she learned to navigate and drive the Navy’s
four Inshore Patrol Vessels before spending
four months in one of them, HMNZS PUKAKI,
watchkeeping in waters around New Zealand
to gain experience.
“It was a lot of responsibility.”
In March 2011, ENS Thomas joined the
sealift and amphibious support ship HMNZS
CANTERBURY as an assistant watchkeeper
for two months that included missions to
Vanuatu and Tonga before a 14-week stint at
DNB for various courses including advanced
watchkeeping and warfare. She was posted
to TE KAHA on 6 January this year.
“I was excited. I was meant to be going to
ENDEAVOUR but spaces opened up here
on TE KAHA. It’s probably the best thing for
my career that could have happened. My
family was pretty impressed; they are very
supportive of my Navy career.
“This trip has been very intense and
tiring but I’ve learnt so much. I enjoy being
challenged. I get bored very quickly but here
things are never the same day-to-day. As
soon as you get good at something, there is
something else to learn. I did a lot of maths
and physics at school which I really enjoyed
and it’s helped me a lot with my work.”
ENS Thomas says her two main career
options are navigation and warfare. She plans
to gain more experience before specialising.
She is now completing on-the-job training that
will see her become a fully qualified OOW.
Meanwhile, her TE KAHA posting has
provided a new personal highlight. “I was
winched up to the Helo from the Ship’s
forecastle. Apart from skydiving it’s the highest
thing I’ve ever done and it was great fun.”
continued from pg 5
Casualty! Flood! Flood! Flood! A bomb crashes
into the hangar but does not explode. Fire!
Fire! Fire!
Two MOETs enter the Bridge and discharge
a smoke canister, announcing to the startled
crew: “Direct missile hit on the Bridge. You’re
all dead. Drop to the floor.” They drop. Medics
arrive and check for pulses. TE KAHA is heading
east for land with the bridge destroyed. The
highest priority is setting up an alternative means
of controlling the ship. An Emergency Conning
Position is quickly established with a portable
compass and a laptop to try to assume control,
in particular to drive TE KAHA so close to nearby
Rottnest Island (a landmark near Perth) that
the Avalonian Seersucker battery there cannot
engage the frigate. Crew in helmets, anti-flash
gear and flak jackets stand by the ship’s machine
guns to fire at approaching hostile aircraft. Crew
all over the ship put out fires, repair damage,
staunch floods and help the injured.
This might all be an exercise, but it is played
out for real, in real time. Nobody here is under
any illusion that they may have to do it all for real
one day, nor that they must do it for real today
to pass the DRE.
“We’ve got on top of most of the incidents,”
Executive Officer Lieutenant Commander
Brock Symmons announces over the intercom
at 0730. “Now’s the time to show even more
urgency as we get the ship back into action
and into the fight.”
After the unexploded bomb is removed from
the hangar, TE KAHA’s Seasprite helicopter
is launched to attack the Seersucker battery,
which is declared destroyed. At 0740, the DRE
is pronounced complete, and TE KAHA and
ENDEAVOUR head for Fremantle.
“What I saw this morning was top-notch,” LT
CDR Symmons says. TE KAHA has a young
crew. The median length of service is six years.
Only 10 of the crew have more than 20 years’
experience. Forty per cent of the ship’s company
have joined since she returned from South-east
Asia last year, he adds.
At the wharf at 1230, the entire ship’s company
assembles on the flight deck to hear the result
of the DRE from CDRE Martin, who is a tough
evaluator. He says his assessment is based on
the last six weeks, not just the past 24 hours.
“You have finished the Work Up. It has been
a challenge but it is not the be all and end all
challenge. For you now, the challenge is to be
New Zealand’s operational warship overseas
6 NT165april-may12
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