An Cosantóir

| 23 With a team of twelve officers and NCOs from the Naval Service's four branches (Communications, Engineering, Logistics, and Seaman's), FORST helps maintain and evaluate essential skills. The evaluation and training for each ship takes place in four stages throughout the year: training; sea-safety and readiness checks in harbour (SSARC Harbour); sea evaluation; and random threat assessment. "Through a series of assessments, evaluations and exercises, we check core mariner skills," said Cdr Peter Twomey, OiC FORST. "We make sure that Naval Service vessels meet operational standards with regards to legislation and SOPs. We make sure they are maintained in good order, that all the rigging is in date, that all the equipment is fit for purpose, that the crews are properly trained and that they meet all the required educational and professional standards." An important requirement for any NS ship is the ability to change roles seamlessly. A ship heading out on a routine four-week patrol could find itself involved in fishing trawler inspections, a search-and-rescue mission and a drugs interdiction operation, all on its first day out. Of all the dangers faced by ships at sea, fires are probably the most feared as they can take hold of a ship in a matter of minutes if not dealt with extremely quickly. In a barracks ashore, if a fire is discovered the building can be evacuated and the fire brigade called. However, if a Naval Service ship goes on fire 200 miles off the West Coast of Ireland there's no fire-brigade to call and the only places to evacuate to are the lifeboats, which would mean abandoning the ship. Understandably, therefore, fire-fighting training is a high priority for the Naval Service. Along with their everyday duties, everyone onboard a Naval Service vessel double-jobs, be it as a gunner, a member of an armed boarding party, or as a fire-fighter, for example. This means that in the event of a fire breaking out there is a team of highly trained fire-fighters on hand to act immediately. It is not surprising, then, that checking, evaluating and assessing crews' fire-fighting standards and ships' fire-fighting equipment are among FORST's priorities. The training stage, which comes first, is approached differently to the three later stages. "Training is very important for ships' captains and crews," Cdr Twomey explained. "Nobody will be disciplined for getting anything wrong during our training assessment and it is at this stage that any crew member can ask questions. Also, if they want training in a particular area they haven't practised in a while, that's no problem at all; the FORST team are here to guide and mentor." The scenario on the ship we were on involved a fire starting in the garbage compartment. Fire extinguishers were used initially but as the fire spread a fire-fighting team was assembled. The FORST team, armed with stopwatches, monitored the response. One of them told us: "You have six minutes, max, to get your fire-fighting equipment on and get the fire under control; these guys are now into minute number nine. They're trying to help each other whereas they should be able to suite up individually." As this was the training phase the FORST team pointed out these defects and instructed the crew in what they needed to do. The next stage, SSARC Harbour evaluation is carried out to see if the ship is at the required standard to undergo sea evaluation. During this stage, which takes place in harbour, the FORST team make sure the ship has all of the correct paperwork, such as up-to-date certificates for all lifejackets, rigging, and life-rafts; certificates for load tests on ropes and wires; fit-for-firing certificates for the main and secondary armament; and so on. "During this phase we categorise things as 'critical', 'significant', or 'minor'. If something is deemed 'critical' we www.military.ie the defence forces magazine

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