To foster relations between Company and our affiliates, the Maritime Battle Staff in Portsmouth, a small group from the Court were invited by Rear Admiral Andrew Burns OBE, Commander UK Strikeforce, to visit the Naval Base. Major Matthew Williams RM greeted us on arrival, and we were taken on a guided tour of HMS Victory
by the Commanding Officer Lieutenant Commander BJ Smith. A fascinating couple of hours was spent seeing all parts of the ship and learning about naval phrases still used in common parlance today. This was followed by lunch at the Admiral’s residence Bonaventure House, a seaborne tour of the dockyard in HMS Ranger
, a P2000, which took us close to the newly arrived and still to be commissioned aircraft carrier Prince of Wales. We finished with a visit on board the highly capable HMS Duncan
, the sixth Type 45 Destroyer, which was featured recently in a Channel 4 documentary.
Our thanks to the Royal Navy for a fascinating and hugely informative day and we hope to host a return visit to the Proof House soon!
