MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Royal Navy disaster relief exercise of cruise in S. Atlantic

HMS Southampton's lynx helicopter during Exercise Cape Reach (Photo RN)

Battling her way through 800 miles of ferocious seas between the Falkland Islands and South Georgia, the Royal Navy Atlantic South patrol and an auxiliary vessel carried out this month a disaster relief exercise based around a typical South Atlantic cruise vessel visiting South Georgia and which supposedly had ran aground in deteriorating weather.

The Type 42 Destroyer HMS Southampton and Royal Fleet Auxiliary Gold Rover participated in the exercise named "Cape Reach" and designed to test force elements and Headquarters personnel in the command control during the execution of this major incident remote from the Falkland Islands, more precisely in Grytviken. Embarked in Southampton was the Commander of British Forces in the South Atlantic, along with members of the Falkland Islands Roulement Infantry Company from the Princess of Wales Royal Regiment and the Falkland Islands' Defence Force. The scenario concerned a simulated major fuel leak from the grounded cruise ship, along with the medical care and welfare of a significant number of civilian casualties and the loss of a civilian expedition group in the mountains, all requiring the assistance of the ships' embarked personnel. In real life freezing conditions and trudging through knee deep snow, RN the sailors searched for and recovered a large number of casualties transferring them to a shore side field hospital for treatment and a warm meal. From the flight deck of HMS Southampton the ship's Lynx helicopter flew a number of sorties to air lift casualties back to her sick bay from the ship playing the role of the stricken craft, the South Georgian Fishery Protection Vessel, Pharos SG. Throughout the exercise the military worked closely alongside the civil authorities of South Georgia, the South Sandwich Islands and the scientists of the British Antarctic Survey to ensure the strict environmental restrictions were adhered to. "This has been an extremely complex, difficult and demanding evolution carried out it the most severe weather conditions possible but we have successfully completed our objectives" said the Commanding Officer of HMS Southampton Commander Richard Morris. "Without the personal determination, endurance and professionalism from each and every man and woman on board we would not have achieved the success that we did", he underlined on completion of the exercise. The island of South Georgia is 800 miles from the Falklands and is well known for its breathtaking scenery and wide range of wildlife. 8th October. After four days operating around South Georgia