Cadets experience firepower of new carrier

St John's Leatherhead CCF visiting HMS Collingwood. Picture: Keith Woodland

Cadets from St John’s School in Leatherhead recently visited HMS Collingwood in Fareham for a tour around the base – including a visit to the Weapons Training Section.

There, the students learned about the work needed to both maintain and fire the navy’s weapons systems.

In the Future Training Unit, the cadets were given the opportunity to find out the latest state-of-the-art computer modelling which is used to train senior rate maintainers on the new Queen Elizabeth carrier.

The group also visited the Weapons Engineering Unit, where Petty Officer Alan Bates gave the youngsters a full presentation on the mechanics of the navy’s 4.5 Mark 8 guns – before letting them get their hands on one of the 37kg shell rounds fired from the carrier’s weapons.

Finally, the cadets got the chance to virtually get their hands on the full firepower of the HMS Queen Elizabeth carrier – as well as undergoing VR tasks like fighting a fire and launching one of the ship’s aircraft.

Cadet Ben Webb said: ‘It has been really interesting as I’m keen to join the Royal Navy on the engineering side and this visit has definitely encouraged me.’

Cadet Fraser Brunton said: ‘I really enjoyed the visit.

‘It is interesting to learn how it all works.’