Falkland Islands Deployment

Yes it's HMS York, my previous ship, so feeling a little bit sentimental (Who am I trying to kid?), as this was our official handover of APT(S). I felt a little sorry for them actually, being at sea on christmas day and apparently their stops won't be as good as ours... but it was nice to 'officially' go off duty after the last 6 months. The Gold Rover left us at this point to return to the Falklands with them. So we're on our own now, with enough fuel to at least make it to Madeira.

Can you tell the difference? York and Gloucester are sister ships, both batch 3 type 42s, so they look very similar... but York has an uprated 4.5" gun on the forecastle, looks slightly more angled than Gloucester's. Oh and the more obvious symbol- YK on the flight deck or GC. You may also notice one of our funnel exhausts is covered over... that'll be the out-of-action port tyne...

Apart from that, we've had a lot of fun things going on, like another game of flight-deck bucketball, and then the "highlight of the deployment" (not my words) Stars in your eyes competition... in which I had to do some track mixing for Sid and Olly, who dressed up as the Warrant Officer and chief stoker in a mickey take of the sugarhill gang's "Rapper's delight"! They were truely awesome!

And not long after, the deployment raffle came to a close with the winner taking away a brand new Ford Fiesta Zetec!! Unfortunately though it wasn't won by anyone in the Royal Navy. It was won by one of the only civvies on the ship, the canteen assisstant! Still, he paid the money, so fair's fair!

5 days to go...