Hot on the heels of the Seniors Challenge which took place on Saturday 2 June, HMS Collingwood hosted the annual Junior Leaders Field Gun Competition on Friday 6 July.
This competition is very similar to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity Field Gun, but is predominantly for youths aged 16-24, who have either only recently joined the Armed Forces or are studying at college.
This year in addition to the Armed Forces crews, teams competed from Fareham College, Chichester College, Sea Cadets and University Technical Colleges (UTC) across the country.
Building on 'The Team Works' and emphasising the training theme, the teams came into the competition with little or no prior experience of Field Gun and only had one week to train, with the finals taking place on Friday in front of friends and family and personnel across the base.
With 19 crews taking part this year the audience were privileged to witness 4 finals; Plate 3 was won by the Sea Cadets, Plate 2 was won by HMS Collingwood’s Victory Squadron, Plate 1 saw the Chichester College team first over the finishing line and, in a closely fought main final, the HMS Neptune team from Scotland emerged as winners.
The Junior Leaders Challenge is the only competition open specifically for new recruits and youths, offering them a chance to work as a team and challenge themselves in a unique setting.
It is hoped that the enthusiasm and professionalism on display by the teams will encourage them to take part in the main Royal Navy Field Gun Competition in future years.
2018 is the Government’s Year of Engineering (YoE), sponsored by the Department for Transport. It aims to build on a multitude of regional and national initiatives that promote engineering and other STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) activities to raise awareness of the interesting and rewarding careers available to young people from all backgrounds and gender.
The Royal Navy is an inclusive employer, voted in the top 10 in the equality index and offers exciting and rewarding careers in many fields of engineering with strong links to professional bodies and clear pathways to becoming Chartered Engineers.
