The big one!
The Royal Navy finally let etc. run about on an aircraft carrier, as long as we promised not to touch anything, or mention Top Gun. We got it half right…
So, how many naval personnel does it take to change an engine? In a word: lots. It’s a huge logistical challenge for a ship’s Marine Engineering team, because as you can imagine, it takes more to get an aircraft carrier full of planes and troops moving than a bunch of oars and a big sign saying ‘Row’. Actually, it takes jet engines. Four of them. And etc. has come to Portsmouth, where HMS Illustrious is about to get some new ones.
Now, we know what you’re thinking. etc. is used to the Royal Navy by now, and they do like to play small jokes on us, suggest different ways we should get our hair cut (usually involving the words ‘all’ and ‘off’), and generally remind us that we are a landlubberly lot. So we’re not fooled: jet engines power jets. They get strapped to wings, and definitely do not get put in boxes and drive 20,000 tonnes of warship through the water. So when they open the boxes and reveal jet engines, we’re amazed – they’re the same sort of Rolls Royce-built powerhouses that previously flung Concorde past the speed of sound, and are not as big as you’d think. But still big enough to need more than a ladder and some ropes to pull out.
Jet start
In fact, they get lifted out through the ship’s funnel, and replaced with new, complete units. Lieutenant Commander Helen Ashworth heads up the Marine Engineering team in charge of this, and leads etc. through the engine rooms (which are full of purposeful dials, levers, and all kinds of things just dying to be pressed) to show us the path the engines will take: along rails, connected to huge cables, winched out… and we thought changing the battery on the Wii remotes was a technical task.
‘This job is the pinnacle of my Royal Navy Engineering career,’ she says of her role on Illustrious. ‘It’s my opportunity to run one of the Royal Navy’s front-line assets.’ This involves a lot of hands-on work, and the job can vary from heavy mechanical work (like lugging old engines out and putting new ones in) to micro-electronics. She’s been with the Royal Navy for 16 years, and thinks there are certainly no barriers to women entering the engineering profession – ‘there’s no stigma attached to it now. If it’s something you want to do, do it; if you’ve got the qualifications from school, there’s no limiting factor.’
So what does she like best about the job? ‘I like being part of the team that makes the impossible happen!’
Top gears
Our tour continues with a look at the gearbox – one of the biggest lumps of machinery etc. has ever seen. Unlike most ships, which reverse by changing the angle of the propeller blades, Illustrious has a reverse gear – her propellers are simply too large for the usual method – so her gearbox is massive. As is the rear-view mirror for when the captain is parallel parking her. (OK, not really, but wouldn’t it be nice?)
From there, we visit the Ship’s Control Centre. This is the bit the movies usually refer to as ‘engineering’ – with all the diagrams of the ship, and lots of lights telling you which bits are working and which aren’t (everything is a reassuring green when we’re there). We meet Chief Petty Officer Simon Higginson, the Propulsion Chief, whose job is to make sure the ship’s engines are ready to do what the Captain wants, when he wants – it’s an important job, in other words, which keeps him below decks a lot of the time. ‘You have to get along with people,’ he says of life on board, ‘the crew are your family when you’re away from home.’ With the Royal Navy for the past 18 years, for him it’s the camaraderie and the chance to see the world that keeps him happy. ‘You can be anything you want to be,’ he says, ‘and they train you throughout your career; I’m very proud to serve my country.’
A few of his team are looking our way while he talks. Will he be getting stick later for giving an interview? ‘Oh, no doubt! I’ll be getting some digs later, for sure. You throw 20 people together on a ship, the jokes are going to come…’
Mighty wings
We head up to the top deck – the bit where the planes jump off (the aircraft lift that carries planes up to the flight deck is exactly the same size as a volleyball court). Illustrious can carry Harrier jets and different kinds of helicopters to any theatre of operations in the world. etc. stands on the long runway of the deck and looks out towards the ramp, replaying lots of cinematic moments in our head. Oh, it’s no use. It’s not like Top Gun ever, is it? (Damn. We tried.) ‘Actually, it is!’ says Sub Lt Beth Hitchcock, one of our guides. ‘The pilots quote stuff from it all the time, it’s very Top Gun when they’re on board!’
We knew it. Illustrious will finish her refit and be back in action within weeks. And etc.’s lifelong ambition to stand on the deck of an aircraft carrier and imagine daft action films from the 80s fulfilled, can return to shore to think about making the impossible happen. We may even think about getting a haircut.
More info
To learn more about Engineering careers in the
Royal Navy, head to royalnavy.mod.uk/careers
or call 08456 07 55 55.
(The officers’ mess has excellent biscuits.)
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