A friend and I, together with other
bloggers and photographers, were invited by the RSAF for their co-op
helo (helicopter, to the rest of us) operation with the Republic of
Singapore Navy (RSN) yesterday, 9th Feb 2015. We met at Tanah Merah MRT
Station in the morning, took a chartered bus to Changi Naval Base, and
went onboard the star for the day... The RSS Endurance!
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| The RSS Endurance at Changi Naval Base. The largest of it's kind in Singapore. |
The RSS Endurance
is the largest landing ship in the RSN's fleet. Its flight deck can
accommodate two Super Puma helis, and its well dock can take up to four
Fast-landing Crafts (FCU). We were given a tour of the ship, and it was a
real eye opener for me, as I had never been on a Navy ship before!
If
you haven't been onboard before, covered shoes are a must, and no
skirts allowed for the ladies. Why? Because there are many, MANY, steep
stairs to climb and descend in a ship. Those stairs also make for a darn
good Stairmaster 5000 workout. Oh, and don't forget your sunblock and cap. I
totally forgot about mine and I have a slight sunburn + messy hair from the windy conditions, but no complaints
as the tour experience was superb!
Without further ado, the photos!
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| Buddy and I on the bus to Changi Naval Base. |
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| Given a welcome and briefing by the Commander (standing in the middle) of the RSS Endurance; Lt Colonel (LTC) Sylvan |
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| Everyone putting on their life jacket and preparing to go up on deck. |
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| Stepping into the light. |
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| A US Navy ship, berthed at Changi Naval Base. |
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| After slipping off. |
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| The crewmen standing by to flake and cheese the ropes. |
"What is flaking and cheesing," you ask? Check out this explanation from the
www.seasupport.org website in the screenshot below:
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| Screenshot from www.seasupport.org |
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| Bow of the RSS Endurance. |
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| One of the cannons on board, heh heh! |
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| The real cannon! This is the ship’s main gun, or “A” Gun, the OTO Melara Super-Rapid 76mm Gun. |
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| Gloves are necessary to prevent rope burn. |
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| The crewmen busy flaking and cheesing the ropes. |
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| I half expected a Michael Bay-type movie explosion to happen as he walked away. *grins* |
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| A self-portrait. |
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| The guests on deck, chatting with the Navy staff and hearing their experiences and interesting stories. |
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| Rolling up the ropes. |
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| Many hands make light work. |
We set sail for the southernmost island of Singapore, where Raffles Lighthouse is. A common question posed by many is, "Why doesn't the helicopter fly to Changi and land on the ship?" Senior LTC Chew Chun Liang explained that this is due to the already crowded airspace over Changi, and the CAAS would have to put all other flights on hold just for the helicopter to come in. Therefore, it was much less troublesome for the ship to sail out and have the heli embark there.
The images above and below were taken from the flight deck which can accommodate two Super Puma helicopters. I made use of the Canon EOS 5D Mark III's in-camera HDR mode for these shots. I used an aperture value of f/8 to ensure that I had a greater depth of field to have almost everything in focus, without much or any bokeh. The HDR feature is definitely a useful thing to have!
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| The netted barrier lining the sides of the flight deck. |
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| Everyone mustering on the flight deck to take attendance and find out which life raft group we are assigned to. |
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| Senior LTC Chew Chun Liang sharing with us his experience and knowledge. Very nice and friendly guy! |
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| Capt. Xiang Ting was our very knowledgeable guide for the day. |
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| It
was good timing and luck to be able to witness the laying of anchor on
our tour. LTC Chew explained that the amount of chain to release is also
known as "shackle," and one shackle is about 27.5m in length. They
typically release 5-6 shackles worth of chain. |
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| We also visited the ship's galley, aka kitchen. |
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| The walk-in
freezer. |
The walk-in freezer holds enough food to last for voyages that can last weeks
or months out at sea. LTC Chew also explained that if an aeroplane takes
one hour to travel to its destination, a ship will need one day to make
the same trip.
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| Yummy nasi lemak for lunch! |
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| Yummy nasi lemak! |
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| This funny motivational poster was in one of the heads (toilet) of the ship. :) |
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| Signalers guiding the Super Puma to land. |
If you've noticed, the netted barriers lining the sides of the flight deck have been folded down, outwards. These are done manually and, I assume, is to provide a clear and safe obstacle-free area for the helo to land onto. One less thing to worry about for the pilots!
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| The Super Puma from RSAF's 126th Squadron. |
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| There were a few rounds of landing and lift-off. Good for photo ops! |
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| The badge reads "Defenders of Our Seas." |
A video of the Super Puma lifting off. You can see the signaler at work at the bottom left hand corner. The starboard side of the ship would have given nicer photos of
the Super Puma, but from where I was (port side), I could capture the
signaler at work in the same frame, so I stayed put.
How do I remember what is port side and starboard side? To be honest, both always confused me, but here's what I used. We all know where the PSA ports are located, right? At the south of Singapore. Now imagine looking at the ship overhead, with the bow (front) of the ship as the west side (Tuas) of Singapore, and the stern as (Pasir Ris,) now where which is port side? The south, where the PSA is, and therefore the left side of the ship. :D
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| The Super Puma on deck, before it is stowed away. |
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| We could get up close and personal to the workhorse of the RSAF and its pilots. |
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| A photo of me with the Super Puma pilots. |
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| Spotted the
Black Knights in their F-16 jets flying in formation overhead. Really
wished I brought my telephoto lens at that moment! |
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| The FCU entering the ship's well dock. Up to four of these can fit. |
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| For members of the public who have tickets, they will also get a chance to ride the FCU during the SAF50 event at Vivocity! |
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| Safety first, always. |
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| In the bridge. |
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| Capt. Nat Goh sharing with us his experience and favourite things about flying. |
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| Fiona of the RSAF, who very kindly gave me this opportunity to go for this trip. Many thanks and much appreciated! :D |
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| 2 of the 3 other pilots who participated in the Search and Rescue (SAR) mission for the recent QZ8501 Air Asia plane crash. |
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| The third pilot who was also involved in the QZ8501 SAR mission. |
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| Noticed that the pilots had their dogtags tied to their shoes. |
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| The four Super Puma pilots. |
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| LTC Chew addressing and giving us a talk. |
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| Callsigns aren't chosen by the pilots themselves... They are "assigned"
by vote from their colleagues. Capt. Nat Goh was given his because he loved eating
Australia's fig jam while he was there. |
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| Capt. Nat Goh chatting with one of the guests. |
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| LTC Sylvan of RSS Endurance ending the day for us with a short talk and a Navy goodie bag. |
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| Senior LTC Chew showing us the "Monkey fist," which is used to swing and throw the leading lines (and ropes) over to the berth for mooring. |
I would like to take this opportunity to thank the RSN and RSAF for having us on this trip. It was a real eye-opener!
For
those who would like to go on board the RSS Endurance, there will be a
SAF50 Launch and Total Defence Commemoration event from this Thursday,
12th Feb 2015 till Sunday, 15th Feb 2015, at Vivocity. FCU rides also
gonna happen during then!
For more information, do visit the
SAF50 website.
Links to other bloggers and photographers who went for yesterday's trip:
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