The unsung heroes of the Fleet are keeping the Navy's headline deployment of 2011 going thanks to an intensive spell off Cyprus.
Key to the success of Exercise Cypriot Lion, the first major test for the ships of the Cougar task group, has been keeping the front-line amphibious vessels and escorts constantly supplied.
The fortnight-long Exercise Cypriot Lion off the eponymous eastern Mediterranean island has just successfully ended.
And while most of the media coverage of the exercise has been focused on things that go whizz, bang and splash (helicopters, guns and landing craft/amphibious vehicles), none of it would have worked without the basics of food, fuel, ammunition, spare parts.
With four amphibious ships, two escorts and hundreds of Royal Marines committed to Cougar, long-term sustainability thousands of miles from the UK is key to the success of the deployment.
Over the two weeks of Cypriot Lion, Wave Knight and Fort Rosalie were very heavily in demand.
There were 25 replenishments at sea (or RASes). A dozen transferred dry stores – 232 pallets of food, ammunition and other goods transferred between ships by helicopter or jackstay.
http://www.royal-navy.mod.uk/operations ... ve_cyp.htm
Los Ejercicios navales de la Royal Navy en Chipre fueron a toda regla, ya parte desde Chipre el HMS Ocean con sus Apache embarcados

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