British Royal Navy Offshore Patrol vessel HMS Severn made a five-day visit to Montserrat from Monday, February 5 to 7, 2015. This was the second time the vessel visited the island; the first was a short visit in December 2014.
Members of the media was given an official tour of the vessel and held a press conference with the vessel’s Commanding Officer, Lieutenant Commander (Lt. C) Steven Banfield. The Lt. C during the press conference gave the media an overview of some of the activities they were undertaking while on the island.
According to the Lieutenant Commander, HMS Severn is in the region working with law enforcement agencies conducting several training exercises with
different agencies and it’s the first time a vessel of that kind has ever been in the region before.
He said they were deployed to upgrade the skill-set of different agencies in the different Overseas Territories in the Caribbean region. “We were deployed to the Caribbean to conduct reassurance for the British Overseas Territory and anti-narcotics operations; the ship will be here until July of 2015,” he said.
While here on Montserrat the ship was involved in several activities and training which included, a disaster preparedness training which was conducted at the Montserrat Culture Center and Port Little Bay with key agencies including the Montserrat Red Cross, Fire and Rescue and the Royal Montserrat Police Service, Governor of Montserrat H.E. Adrian Davis was also in attendance.
Members of the Montserrat Fire Service was also involved in a fire and recuse training aboard in the event a fire was to accrue aboard a cruise ship or any other vessel they will be capable to handle these situations.
The disaster exercise on February 5 was designed to work through a theoretical scenario and will engage the ship with the key local preparedness and response agencies. It included a live element which allowed the ship to test its deployment of a shore party and co-ordination point.
On Thursday evening a strong contingent of the ships men and women, were hosted at a reception, by His Excellency the Governor and Mrs. Davis, at Government House.
The exclusion zone wasn’t left out of the vessel week long list of activities as the vessel was in that area conducting night patrol anti-narcotics operations.
The ship is a patrol vessel but it also has the capacity to work in times of national disaster; it can also work with law enforcement agencies in counter terrorism among other sea/ocean crimes.
The vessel’s crew capacity is 35, which includes a Doctor, Engineer, Weapons Engineer etc. On Thursday during a disaster seminar was held and it was during this activity Lt. C Banfield showcased some of the emergency gears on board the vessel.
HMS Severn officers and First Aiders
The ship also conducted training exercises with the Red Cross First Aiders on Saturday morning at Little Bay beach.
The ship left Montserrat on Sunday, February 8 to continues its voyage to the rest of the British Overseas Territory before returning to the UK in July 2015.
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