Inside World's Most Advanced Destroyer: HMS Duncan | Warship: Life At Sea | Spark

the paper was light gold in medieval times, oh, no tobacco, sugar, that everything we thought we knew about the

world

could turn out to be completely wrong, this is the story of the

most

advanced

warship

of its kind in the

world

in the

most

dramatic moment in its short history, make sure we are prepared for anything. Hms

duncan

is a royal navy type 45

destroyer

worth over £1 billion and packed with technology. This ship can track a contact the size of a cricket ball and three times the speed of sound at about 150 miles, backed by weaponry, so my c viper missile system is the best air defense system in the world, but this ship state-of-the-art also houses 280 men and women.

Do you understand the charges against you today? Yes, sir, herding cats, friend, that's what We're herding cats. Our cameras have had unprecedented access to Duncan's dramatic seven-month mission as they come face to face with Russian forces. There is a challenge from Russia at the moment when the plane passes through the aft ports and the crew is in the front. Line missiles raining down on Syria is quite scary to think that we are literally in the center of everything that is happening. Now we're just waiting to see what happens and see if someone shoots us. It's 8 in the morning and the actual day.

The Navy's HMS Duncan is preparing to depart Portsmouth, but departure is just hours away. The ship's captain, Elena Stack, is struggling to arrive on time. She's feeling particularly frantic right now, it's that last minute rush before deployment, so she's getting supplies to get. new people on board and integrated and all the final details and material preparations that need to be made, so as you can see it is an old ship and very busy at the moment, provisions include six tons of potatoes, four thousand frozen chickens and forty five thousand rolls of toilet paper good morning

duncan

good morning mom just Wednesday east northeast 20 knots and we are going to have a mix of hill fog, low clouds and certainly in the fall noon thank you very much this is what we are going to fly this tomorrow, what is the

destroyer

's effectiveness pennant, this is a reflection of all the hard work that the Duncanship company has done to prepare the ship for deployment for seven months today.

Thanks, continue. I was that schoolboy in Glasgow with no naval experience. We had the opportunity to tour hms argyle and I thought, well, that's pretty interesting and my interest continued. I think my parents thought I was going through a phase. I think they still think I'm going through a phase and then, lo and behold, coming together. 2000. Navigator, you are in charge of preparing the bridge for the sea, make sure all the screens, chef Liam Fletcher, 26, is one of the last to arrive. This is his fifth tour, but it will also be his longest. Don't touch, how are you, friend? you are right, books, a reliable laptop for me, which has been implemented for several months, it excites me, you never know in today's world what is around the corner, just a few minutes before the ship sails, Liam doesn't have much time to prepare, I need your help, these are a little tighter than last time, you're going to warm us up on TV, I should have left them out, pure team efforts, okay, Liam will be away from home for almost 200 days, ready for the days I just want to leave, now get a good job. done after months of training and frantic last minute preparations Duncan finally launches right now look how this is shaping up now the ship's head turns towards Duncan Harbor towards the Mediterranean to rendezvous with a fleet of NATO

warship

s and take them to the Black Sea to the northeast The corner borders Russia and Crimea and is one of the most sensitive areas in the world.

When we get our orders for deployment there are always things we have to train to equip the man and then be ready at a moment's notice to do it, you never know. What is going to happen when we enter the Black Sea and what will our presence there cause other nations going to the Black Sea? This puts Duncan on a possible collision course with the Russians and no one knows how they will react tomorrow, are you okay? scrubbing, can you get rid of this bucket behind that bucket somewhere? The job of overseeing the crew's well-being falls to one key man.

Hello how are you? Yes, Martin Watson is the Ewo, the executive petty officer, right, everyone is here, yes of course, I am the eyes and ears of the land, means I need to be absolutely everywhere, from the front of the ship to the back of the ship, it's fine and if something isn't working exactly right, it's up to me, as the unbiased person on board, to let the captain know. I've been doing smoking duty, so if you were to d if you had to clean that up today, what do you do? How do you do it well?

That's the problem. That's exactly what I was going to say, so over the side of the ship. understand guess what a pile of ash and black marks so pass the buds so as not to throw them all over the side that is the ewok knock knock hello gentlemen the miranda is fine on board thats what i usually do is have a drain and try to stay a little bit and look, that's mine, that's my anchor boss quitting there now, it's pretty funny he came in and peed on my handkerchief, my sister tells me she said you're the only 40 year old man in all the ones that hang out with the boss anky well you work very hard so thank you very much anyway thank you very much talk about morale this creates morale so obviously we have all these chocolates and sweets here so some People call him Colonel Colonel Kadafit Nafi, come on.

Let's take a look at Chris' chocolate bar with noodles, which was a bit embarrassing for the minors. I have been in the navy for 26 years this year, I left my family of 16 and joined the navy, being in ces is where it is. It's a little more money, which is always nice, but it's also seeing the world a little more, so I'm here to see that world and at the same time we could do a little work on the way hey, yeah, well , hms duncan is very crowded with almost 280 men and women on board, there are not enough suitable beds for everyone, so how busy and full we are at the moment, if you can accommodate yourself, well this is done. for two of our young officers who are on board the ship, so this is typical at the moment as where we are on board our ship we are absolutely maxed out and unfortunately we have had to fill some other compartments where people can live when space is at a premium newer sailors usually get a raw deal this is the camperdown disaster aka austerity this is where the sprague frogs basically join in what's going on here eighteen year old owen clements is the most young man on the boat and it's his first time away from home this is the best disaster zone right back here my man baby here cover the stoker is full up there my well up here pretty messy that must have been hard at first it's hard when you're It bothers me when you put your part in isolation from others, which is quite good.

The only bad thing is that you have to get up and it's annoying to make your bed in the morning, so you have a bad nightmare and you're going to wake up. get up and hit your head oh, it's not done in the night, it's the only thing no one can mess with, it's my only, my only personal area, we wanted them to hold the curtains too, no one will come in, this is the first time I see. I have never been abroad in my

life

. I've been to Wales, but I don't really count it, so at first I'm a bit surprised, but at the same time it's quite exciting to know that I was doing well what I signed up to do, so my mother.

Little Owen was probably two or three years old at the time Photos of my wife that she printed for me Accident Martin Watson is coordinating the emergency response One of our ship's company members complains of problems with chess and was taken to the infirmary where he actually seriously deteriorated. From there, a 36-year-old helicopter engineer may have suffered a heart attack. His

life

now depends on his own colleagues on the flight. The crew's priorities are number one to deal with the victim. Number two to prepare for the casino event. T1 is our most serious victim. classification uh that basically means that there is a requirement for what we call an informal group evacuation that has been activated and our own helicopter is preparing for that now two of the ship's doctors will accompany the victim on the flight to a hospital in the continent.

It's her best chance to survive Duncan is running towards the black sea take her to you normally when a ship needs to refuel she goes to port but they don't have time let's drive my ship next to a floating and moving gas station and refuel the ship, so that's a challenge, but also for a lot of my team, this is the first time aboard the hms. This nozzle will pump half a million liters into Duncan's fuel tanks. Raz Party Razz is the navy, it talks about replenishment at sea. I love doing climbs. Yes, soaring at sea is possibly one of the most challenging but rewarding things you have ever accomplished.

I'm steering my boat to get between 36 and 42 meters of lateral clearance from the tanker, which doesn't get any more challenging than that in terms of Forty-year-old Captain Stack, who runs the boat, has been in command of Duncan for 18 months. , they're 2-7-0, it's a big responsibility and I think about that responsibility every day, if I wasn't thinking about that responsibility, being in the wrong job and it's hard work and no commanding officer in any military unit would say that. contrary, but that's why we do it. Refueling will take two hours. Duncan's engines are huge, generating enough electricity to power more than 18,000 homes. 18 years.

Owen has drawn another straw. These strainers tend to get blocked or algae or fish guts or all that kind of stuff. All we do is take them out and clean them. You really don't have to be a genius to do a lot of things. Now look down. Right down there is the reason I joined, so how do you find your first deployment? Obviously, there are times when you want it all to be over immediately. Mom is probably one of the people I miss the most. My dad too. I'm also trying to find my wife when I can, it's a bit of a shock for her because I'm away for seven months with weekends of contact and then when we get to the backseat it's going to be really weird because when he gets in at night , at bedtime, it can be pretty miserable, but since I have a bed, I have nothing else on my mind, so the photos are off my wall, it's a little sad not to think about it, now it's available, it's the collection that the fuel tanker also delivered the mail. great moment everyone Owen hopes there's something for him during these photos my grandpa is my mom my uncle Michael it's nice to get things like this yeah especially when I've had an email since I left oh no I'm not going to show you this that he sent me personally it is good to receive some letters although yes, I will show you one thing about how many prices with the refueling ended, there is only time to maintain the navy tradition of thanking the captain of the tanker the gift is a photo of the the duncan flying boat and a tartan-adorned toy specially commissioned by hms duncan to present misabity which will soon be seen on the milan catwalk duncan's helicopter returns the flight engineer suspected of having suffered a heart attack is recovering in hospital one of the doctors who flew with him is rhianne dillmore, 28, so it's never a boring diamond, duncan, it's never the day, oh you're back, yeah, literally, you just got back, we take him out and he's getting spades, receiving the attention he needs and is in good spirits.

He's in a little pain but he's in good spirits, so that's good news for Rhiann. She deals with everything from blisters to gunshot wounds. I don't think there are many people who can say that she has such a varied lifestyle. your job, I mean, there are always negative things in everything, not everything is always sunshine, raindrops and lollipops, but yeah, I couldn't think of a better career, to be honest, your next job is a little different, it's always Fun to cover up your monkey, the Navy has a strict no-touch policy on board without gloves without love, but safe precautions are taken seriously Have a Happy Condom Day The Condom Fairy Do they know you're the Condom Fairy?

Well, no, it's a secret, an absolute secret, a disease and stuff that can just affect a force as much as the next disease there's always a couple of cases um on a deployment excuse me you want everyone to be safe when the ship comes in in port condoms stay safe that's all that's the condom fairy ready Duncan is no longer alone she has been joined by the allied warships, we look forward to this deployment. It is an honor for us to work with the crew of theDuncan. She is taking on the role of NATO flagship and puts her in charge of a fleet of four ships.

It is very important for us to be the flagship. So this is the first time a Type 45 destroyer has acted as a flagship, but being the flagship means the captain's job is about to change. She will have a new boss. NATO Commodore Mike Utley will take over as chief. The captain is responsible for everything. That happens on this boat. If you want, I am the next level where they give me several ships within my mission. I command a NATO task force in several areas. The commodore's first job is to explain. why they are heading to the black sea its northeast area is full of tension after russian forces entered crimea in 2014 for many crew members this will be their first experience in a potentially hostile environment people deploying on operations need to understand What is it that they are here to do it.

As task force commander, I have the responsibility to do that. I'm sure that they understand why we're going to do what we're going to do, what their role is in it, and that they're prepared for it. Do you hear his commodore speaking? Good evening, Duncan, let us have no doubt that it is. Not having normal relations with Russia, each country has the right to exercise and manage its own ships, but what we do not expect is that other countries occupy other countries in the same way that Russia annexed Crimea, where we will cross the next few weeks and particularly the Black Sea, Russia has shown that it really flexes its muscles and for our allies residing in those areas these are really difficult and challenging times, which is very inspiring.

It's not bad for a commodore to brief his ship's crew even though there are Russian ships and all sorts of things circling the Black Sea, I'm actually not that worried about it because I trust the crew's abilities. The Black Sea obviously has its own area of ​​surveillance by our Russian colleagues, we have enormous jobs to do here and the countries are still waiting for us to lead them to be at the forefront helping them with their struggles. What I want Duncan to know is that they are absolutely at the forefront of that and in the future. weeks that's exactly where they will be the commodore is taking the fleet into the most tense regions of the black sea duncan is heading straight for the lions' den it's early in the morning liam fletcher, 26, is one of ten duncan chefs who gets up at two in the morning, you can measure your biological clock on the first shift, you know that you start to get very tired, but then your body gets used to it.

As a chef you make all different ridiculous mistakes, but the night shifts tend to be pretty good because they're pretty easy liam cases for all occasions, from banquets to burgers and everything is homemade. Uh, for breakfast we have sausage, bacon, baked beans, tomatoes, porridge, eggs to order and American pancakes, that's pretty interesting. We have two breakfasts, one at three o'clock and one at seven o'clock, the first one is always busier because that's where the shift change happens, but 266 people, almost all in one hour, we order more paralytic eggs, I I joined the navy because I was a little bored of the civilian chef with bacon, you know?

I've done it for about eight years. I wanted to travel but didn't have enough money to travel, so I thought why not join the navy, get fit in the process, meet people from all over the world and still be able to share. most days it's really good, I know I really enjoy it. Chefs prepare nearly 300 breakfasts, lunches and dinners every day, making it one of the busiest jobs on board. Good morning. Good morning. I don't even know what day it is. I lost my dad in 2009 and that's always constantly in the back of my mind and I wish my dad was here to see me, I really do and especially on my pass when I was standing on the playground waiting to march when I was standing on the playground just looking up and seeing my mom and my grandpa and the rest of my family in the crowd, I literally looked up and thought I wish my dad was here right now and yeah, I choked up a little. standing on the playground, but I know he would be proud that HMS Duncan is about to enter the Black Sea, but first it must pass through the Bosphorus, a narrow canal that divides the Turkish city of Istanbul, passing any street in traffic like this, and we are watching. for anything that is good, a threat to me and this is the challenge here, a threat could come from anywhere so close to land, Duncan is within range of the most terrorist areas of northern Australia, therefore, The smoking area is now off-limits to anyone on the upper deck to ensure helmets are worn, such a narrow channel is tricky for a ship the size of Duncan, so a Turkish pilot will come on board to help.

Reports like this are mandatory, especially for a ship of this size, their knowledge and experience is extremely useful and the language is clear, but the difference with military vessels is that when the pilots come on board, they do not accept the scam, they do not drive the ship themselves with many merchant vessels, that is what everyone expects them to do in the hms sector, the marine mammal. log actually log marine mammals Marine mammals can be affected by our activities, especially when they transmit sonar, so it is important that we monitor their activities and submit our reports.

They could be Russian orphans in the narrowest part of the Bosphorus, one of Duncan's two. the propellers stop suddenly the captain's port drive channel 3 controller is completely dead. Steering on a propeller is complicated. Whether the boat is on the stop axis affects the direction of the boat, so the number of directions they have to turn and the rudder has to change. With that Porsche loss continuing, the broken propeller makes the Turkish pilot and Duncan's navigator disagree, he knows we've been up and down the streets before knowing that the navigator is well trained to do this kind of thing. navigation, but there is always that delicate balance in the relationship some pilots like to do it harder than others oh well, the final bridge across the bosphorus marks the beginning of duncan's mission in the black sea we have crossed the line welcome to the black sea i have never operated in the black sea some of my most experienced sailors who have been in the navy for a long time have never operated in the black sea it is a fascinating place from now on duncan needs to be on the lookout for threats 24 hours a day of the day all your intelligence is gathered in the nerve center of the ship welcome to the operations room of the hms duncan it is also the second home of james smith this is the heart of the ship it is the reason we have a warship instead of just one ship and what we have here is all of our weapons and sensors, all of our people that are in charge of them, making sure that we can fight the ship and defend ourselves literally, our job is to take the information that we have, analyze it to make a informed decision, convey that information to the captain, sell our decision making. to the captain so that he can make an informed decision about what our posture should be, suddenly there is an alarm, they have seen a warship on the horizon and they believe that they are Russian hands for action stations and to make action stations, bags battle with life jackets with old money. and all personnel must wear coveralls, yes there are nine of them, this unit here is a vacuum warship, so it is heavily armed.

That is why we have come to this moment to be prepared to deter them, to be prepared to have anything else. interactions with them we don't want the situation to get worse, but now we're at a high level um because you never know where the Russian mansion is the Russian warship starts following Duncan he'll be here to get as much information about how. We operate as we can as a way to build their image of how NATO operates in the Black Sea. What would not surprise me is if this unit followed us during our period in the Black Sea, I expect that we will probably get to know him.

This rift particularly well over the next three weeks, as soon as we arrive in this area, they challenge our right to navigate freely on the high seas by immediately encountering the warship, which is a challenge, all eyes are on the ship russian warship sbs running around talking but that's about to change man overboard alarm has sounded duncan is circling the search area aware that a russian warship is watching report 35 put the steering wheel at 4 35 turn on Martin Watson begins an urgent headcount to find out who is missing. One of our ship's companies activated the man overboard alarm, which has put us all as the ship's crew to find out exactly what is going on.

Captain Elena Stack has diverted her attention from the Russian warship to oversee the rescue. Doctor rhiann is going to offer first aid. man overboard, but the light is fading quickly, the search is becoming desperate, the ship's personnel count is almost complete, that is, a verification of 100 crew members of the ship's company, therefore, I can confirm that the maneuvering board was not one of our boats, the tree they found there is nothing in the water there we passed a log about two minutes before it was in the right action up to about five meters away we still thought it was someone, it seemed that someone was doing this in the water and we get to the tree and we're like oh it's a tree, okay you can stay, you can stay in the waters, no dramas there, in this case it wasn't a body, but this happens unfortunately, I see a lot of things, sometimes you'll come across bodies in the sea, um and and you.

I don't necessarily know where they're coming from and you have to deal with that and you also have to deal with that with the ship company. This is the second time this has happened to me. I need a drink tonight during the emergency. The Russian ship was watching your every move, but Duncan and the NATO fleet are about to enter the safety of the port where the Russians will not follow Duncan preparing to entertain their NATO allies, are you coming to the cocktail park? No, I'm not talking. here I just have to work and get everything ready, it's quite a complicated job and there is a lot to do, we have 190 people coming, ladies and gentlemen, official hospitality is what the royal navy does best, we have been doing this for hundreds of years and tonight will be no exception.

I don't expect junior officers to find the most attractive man or woman in the room and simply talk to them. I want you to talk to the entire plethora of people we have tonight. It is a great opportunity to get that idea of ​​what a country is from a military point of view. It also gives us that opportunity to thank other military members for working with them and I find them fascinating. Typically, nine out of ten shopping times you are left behind. the scenes and you know you put a lot of effort into the food that people eat and a lot of times you can't see how appreciated it is and it's really rewarding for my chefs.

I'm too afraid to have them because they're too beautiful and I think you need, as my mother would say, family, hold back, what are you doing tonight, what's your job? Basically, I'm in charge of getting everyone properly drunk in a sensible way, making sure people don't go too far. and serving the queen's best alcohol, tell me what we have, to be honest I'm not too sure, well you need to find out, can't you? Yes, asparagus wrapped in ham, a little parmesan, what is this? We have to know what they are, right? The party is a success, but inevitably the conversation turns to Russia.

Putin, he is not our friend, the Russian threat is out there and it is real, so we must understand that they consider him a black seal like a Russian lake they do not consider the black sea as a free and free sea you know how serious this is russian is very serious no one believes that the russians are a threat they are living in a world of dreams the next morning duncan has barely left the port m p wasted those bisectors when the russian ship reappears he has been waiting for them five miles now it is suspected that he is not adjusts to lh a russian fighter jet is heading towards duncan where are the left to right relations?

We have a suspicious nearby force aircraft visually identified as a Russian Federation fencer aircraft turning from right to left. This is the first time in our two wax departments that we have seen Russian planes and the remains are that about the crew returning now and then the turn in truck, the arrival of the Russian plane is an escalation the question now is what will happen then we always talk about threat as capability and intent so we have a very good idea of ​​their capability intent is the hardest thing to prove three three two five the military commander is always It's interesting to see what the other guy is willing to do.

His balance of how much of your hand you showed was showing thatNext time Chef Fletcher and his team are under pressure, so we must feed everyone as quickly as we can. wasting we need to get people to come there's a surprise for the crew we have the drug testing equipment on board it's just me, the captain and our commodore who know and tensions with the Russians reach a whole new level 16 or 17 Plane Russian and the closest one we had was about 200 meters from the beam, which is nothing we've ever seen before. Get ready for them to return.