Jim Perks – How the simulators worked

Simon: The simulators are how realistic? Have they got people working in there and …?

Yeah, and the layout is similar, you’ve got the action information organisation, the Plots on one side, and you’re got Fire Control at the end of it, you’ve got Sound Room, the Sonar guys. In another room, you understand how they interact, and back then you were doing a lot of Maths, a lot of manual stuff in your head. Manual plots were still a thing, it’s all computer screens now.

I’m not saying the Maths has gone. To a lot of people very important to understand exactly how the algorithms are working, so from a learning perspective with regards to how you manage your team, and collate information, it’s really good but nothing is like being at sea, learning.

Again, Advanced Warfare Course gets you a tick. Being at sea as a Watch Leader, you know you’ve got a few months you need to learn properly what it feels like, the movement of the boat, the fact that you’ve got people Watch changing. Every 6 hours you’ve got a whole new people coming in, coming out.

There’s noise, there’s that, you’ve got to control that. And you’ve got other stuff which isn’t in the simulators. You know you’ve got a Reactor behind you; you’ve got the Engineering Team behind you, you’ve got Propulsion to worry about. But, a great Course, great people again, Advanced Warfare Course