ROYAL Navy officer cadet Stephen Roberts from Tavistock has had his first experience of life at sea on a warship during six weeks on board the Fleet Amphibious Flagship, HMS Albion, as part of his training to become an officer in the Senior Service.
Officer Cadet Roberts, 26, joined HMS Albion, one of the Royal Navy?s new amphibious assault ships, in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and sailed with it to New Orleans, before heading back across the Atlantic to HMS Albion?s home port of Plymouth.
The former pupil of Tavistock College joined Britannia Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, in February to begin his general naval training. Now in his second term, officer cadet Roberts was one of a number of cadets to join HMS Albion for initial sea training.
This period is designed to give students their first taste of an operational warship and the opportunity to work alongside a ship?s company, putting into practice and context the classroom instruction they have been given.
Officer cadet Roberts spent time in all of HMS Albion?s major departments, helping out with everything from preparing meals to taking part in warfare exercises. Now back on dry land he has returned to college before embarking on his specialist training.
Previously he was an administration assistant in the retail business, a member of the Royal Naval Reserves and the Plymouth-based unit HMS Vivid.
HMS Albion left Plymouth in May as part of the Royal Navy?s Aurora 04 deployment. The ship took part in Exercise Rapid Alliance, a large multi-national amphibious exercise off the east coast of the USA featuring around 5,900 UK service personnel along with participants from ten other nations.
On completion of the exercise HMS Albion sailed to the Gulf of Mexico where the ship?s company conducted hot weather trials on the ship?s systems before returning to the UK.