HMS Kent sailors train with emergency services to deal with explosions

Homeland February 28, 2019

HMS Kent has trained with emergency services to see how they could work together in the event of an explosion in the county.

Emergency service crew from the frigate, police, ambulance, and firefighters worked in the Royal Navy’s disaster training complex to prepare for the event of an explosion. HMS Kent sailors practised delivering aid, treating injured people, and coping with a disaster scenario.

The WWII ammunition ship the SS Richard Montgomery sunk a few miles from the Kentish Coast 70 years ago in bad weather during the Battle For France. Onboard is an estimated 7,000 bombs totalling around 1,400 tonnes of high explosives.

The training scenario at Bull Point in the Devonport Naval Base tested the readiness of the navy in the event of one of the bombs exploding. The base is normally used to train naval officers to provide humanitarian aid.

The test simulated a disaster event with destroyed buildings, fallen power lines, fires, floods, and crashed vehicles. Local volunteers played the part of people needing help and victims trapped in their homes.

Lieutenant Commander Richard Talbot said: “A disaster exercise is primarily a test of ship’s ability to firstly plan, then carry out dynamic command and control of its personnel and equipment.”

“Working alongside the ‘blue light’ services has been a steep learning curve for everyone. In an operation such as this, military personnel have to adapt to the way the civilian authorities work and think. Kent has had to rapidly change her mindset from training for high-intensity warfare to providing humanitarian aid.”

“Overall, the exercise was a huge success. It proved that military and civilian emergency services can work together.”

Collaboration between the armed forces and the emergency services has increased in the wake of large scale incidents of terrorism and national disasters. Naval humanitarian aid training has also been utilised abroad, after the Philippines typhoon and hurricanes in the Caribbean.