Blasting sea clear of war's deadly legacy
IT looks like the navy is under attack, as the water next to HMS Hurworth erupts with a deafening roar.
But despite the apparent near miss the crew on the minehunter are not being shelled by hostile forces.
The vessel is taking part in multinational exercises to make the seas safer.
The Portsmouth-based minehunter has spent three months in a Nato group of European ships, exploding mines that have laid in the shipping lanes since the war.
They have been a threat to vessels going between Britain and the countries on the North Sea, as well as cockle fleets who work on the north European coast.
So the 625-tonne ship has worked as part of the mine countermeasures group since February, with the survey ship HMS Roebuck and minehunters from Belgium, Germany and Latvia.
The group is one of four permanent teams rotating under the command of Commander Chris Davies throughout this year.
The ship began her deployment in the Norwegian fjords and has been off the coast of Belgium in the past fortnight.
In all, they managed to locate and destroy 10 mines from the First and Second World Wars.
While they were operating in the North Sea last month the ship marked 21 years since the crew had been called into action to help after the Zeebrugge disaster, when 193 people died in the sinking of the ferry Herald of Free Enterprise .
Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, commander of the Allied Maritime Component Command at Northwood in London, said: 'The concept of the Standing Naval Mine Countermeasures Group is without doubt a notable success and an exemplary demonstration of Nato's true value in today's changing world.
'The group this year has had a highly successful time marking, identifying and disposing of dangerous ordnance.
'This ordnance is a direct threat to seafarers and economic lifelines that the maritime sector provides our nations.'
This week Hurworth is taking part in Exercise Joint Warrior off the north-west coast of Scotland along with the standing group.
There will be mining operations tests throughout the week.
matt.jackson@thenews.co.uk
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Weather for Portsmouth
Thursday 24 May 2012
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