Let’s begin the new week with a bang. Well, a whoosh, then a plop, courtesy of HMS Westminster as she runs through testing the gamut of weapons and systems aboard following her two-year refit.
A drogue parachute begins to deploy as a Sting Ray is propelled from its launcher and the Magazine-Launched Torpedo System on the 'capital ship' is put through its paces.
Having uncoiled its towed-array sonar - a 1,700-metre 'tail' lined with hydrophones (underwater microphones) which is normally wrapped around a gigantic drum behind the quarterdeck - to listen for any submarine activity, the weapons maintainers and ops room team flashed up the torpedo as well.
The Sting Ray launchers - just forward of the Portsmouth frigate's hangar - use high pressure to drive the torpedo out of its tube, before the small parachute deploys and slows its entry into the water.
Thereafter, Sting Ray - just 8ft 6in long, but packing a 100lb explosive charge to ruin any submariner's day - races through the water at more than 50mph until it strikes its target.
In this instance, the dummy weapon was recovered once the exercise was complete.
The system is among a Type 23's last line of defence against the submarine menace; normally the towed array should find an enemy boat long before it is within striking range, and a Merlin or Wildcat helicopter armed with Sting Rays or depth charges should have finished it off.
But if the submarine evades detection…
Ensuring both towed array and magazine-launched system were in full working order was a team under POET(WE) Colin Howie.
Well on her way, preparing to re-join the operational Fleet, today was a significant milestone for the submarine hunting frigate as she proved both her towed array sonar, her key tool for submarine detection, as well as, her Stingray torpedo launcher for fending-off submarines that stray too close.
"The firing of this torpedo system has been able to happen through hard work by a very able and determined team," he said. "It proves working in partnership with the civilians and other agencies the Royal Navy is still a force to be reckoned with."
