Chris Groves – Assets available to teacher during Perisher
Teacher has control of the programme to a large extent, so what the submarine and what you are required to do, and then he has a whole load of assets that he has assigned to him which he can use to achieve his training aims and objectives, so he will have maritime helicopters that are doing anti-submarine warfare, he will have Frigates that are going up against the submarine in an anti-submarine warfare scenario, he will have access to for periods of time Special Forces, he’ll have Maritime Patrol Aircraft either in support or going against you, so he can up the pressure by increasing the complexity.
So, you might have 1 Helicopter on one day, you might have 3 Helicopters on the next day and you might have 3 Helicopters and a Maritime Patrol Aircraft and then he’ll bring the ship in and then you might have 3 Helicopters, a Maritime Patrol Aircraft and 2 ships. And then he’s got a number of other assets that he uses to help him with the complexity of the scenario, so up in Scotland we’ve got a number of the University Royal Naval Unit ships that I was discussing before. Well, he will get one of those involved and they’ll just make life difficult by being in the wrong place.
He’ll put them in the place where he knows that you need to get to, to take the photographic intelligence of the lighthouse or whatever it is that your aim is, and he’ll put them there on purpose and then unbeknownst to you as the student, he has the ability to go into the Wireless Telegraph Office, the WT Office, and when your periscope’s raised or he’ll put a mast up without you knowing it, and he’ll talk to them and he’ll say, “We’re over here” or “I want you to do this” or he’ll go into the aft Escape Compartment and he’ll fire out of the submerged signal ejector a white flare so that everybody around you can see you so that you get counter-detected.
And he’s wanting to take you through that whole process of ‘right, it’s fine, I’m going along nicely, navigating it’s fine, I’ve got a Frigate over there, a Helicopter over there, I’m achieving my aim, I know where I’m going, navigation’s going nicely’ and then all of a sudden, not through something the student has done but through something he’s done, or it might be through something the student’s done, you get counter detected. So, all of a sudden, for some reason that Frigate’s suddenly turned and is driving straight towards you, and he’s waiting …
Simon: You don’t know the flare’s gone up.
You don’t know the flare’s gone up and so the flare’s gone up there or he’s turned round and given the Frigate a position, or he’s turned round to the Frigate and said, “Your bearing south from me at two miles, come and give me some harassment” sort of thing, and all of a sudden you’re there as a Commanding Officer thinking life’s going really well I’ve got 20 minutes before I take this photograph of this lighthouse, I know where everything is, everything’s cool, the Frigate’s over there and opening the range and he’s not a threat to me, and all of a sudden the Sound Room, the Sonar Operator is saying, “I’ve detected an alteration in course on the Frigate” and so you go, “Oh, that’s a bit strange, I wasn’t expecting that” and so you’re then turning arounds to your Attack Co-ordinator and you’re saying, “Let’s take a look through the periscope at that Frigate”.
He puts the periscope up, it’s coming straight towards you, there’s a great big bow wave, he’s 8000 yards away from you, 4 miles away from you and then you turn around and say, “Oh my word, right ok, what’s the speed by revs Sound Room?” and he says, “Oh, he’s doing 29 knots, he’s up maximum speed” and then you’re thinking. “Oh, my word, it’s 4 miles away, it’s 29 knots, oh my word.’ I’m now not achieving my aim, I’m into counter-detection mode here. I’ve got to assume I’ve been counter-detected; how do I lose contact with that? And so, all of a sudden … and Teacher just wants to see you do the right thing.
Recognise the issue, deal with it, make the right tactical decisions, lose contact with the Frigate and nine times out of ten, once you’d done that, you know he’s back telling the Frigate to go away and get on with its stuff because he’s managed that training, he’s seen that you’re responding and doing the right thing. You’re achieving what you need to do and then you can get back onto the aim.