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Navy/British Hydrographic Survey Exchange Adds Value

Navy NewsStand

Story Number: NNS060317-01
3/17/2006

From Naval Oceanographic Office Public Affairs

MISSISSIPPI (NNS) -- The British Royal Navy now has the capability to speed up production of oceanographic charts, following an exchange program visit by an officer from the U.S. Navy’s Fleet Survey Team (FST) at Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

In January and February, FST’s Lt. Cmdr. Deborah Mabey traveled the Mediterranean Sea aboard HMS Roebuck, a Royal Navy survey ship. She participated in hydrographic surveys, shared professional expertise and helped her British counterparts update their techniques.

Mabey trained the British surveyors in the production of field charts. Until now, British survey ships have gathered data at sea and only produced field bathymetric sheets while still in theater. Conversely, FST and survey ships in the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) fleet are able to produce field charts while still on the scene of the survey.

“The Royal Navy wanted to develop that capability,” Mabey said. “As a result of this exchange, Roebuck will be testing this capability during an upcoming NATO exercise.”

Fleet Survey Team is a subordinate command to NAVOCEANO, which falls under Commander, Naval Meteorology and Oceanography Command. Both are also located at Stennis. Along with FST, they support the warfighter with relevant oceanographic data applied in areas including expeditionary forces, mine warfare and anti-submarine warfare.

Roebuck’s commanding officer, Royal Navy Lt. Cmdr. Graham Mimpriss, was previously an exchange officer with NAVOCEANO at Stennis.

“The U.S. Navy’s oceanography community has a long-standing relationship with our British counterparts,” said Cmdr. Todd Monroe, commanding officer of Fleet Survey Team. “We can learn a lot from each other through exchanges like this.”

Mabey sailed aboard Roebuck from Malta to Monaco and Gibraltar, providing focused training and assisting Royal Navy surveyors in the execution of hydrographic surveys.

She aided in hydrographic data collection both ashore and aboard the ship’s survey motorboat, and worked with her British counterparts in multibeam data collection and processing, tidal data collection, and the setup and testing of a new field processing system.

In addition, Mabey wrote several standard operating procedures the British can use to save time and increase efficiency in their data collection and processing.

“I noticed they were doing more work than they had to,” Mabey said. “Now they can do the same things with fewer steps and they can pass that capability along to the other survey ships in their navy. This will give them a new dimension in field product deliverables.”

“I’m proud of the job Lt. Cmdr. Mabey did and am looking forward to future similar opportunities,” Monroe said.

Aside from being part of the Royal Navy’s survey squadron, the 210-foot-long Roebuck is also a mine countermeasures tasking authority ship. She holds more battle honors than any other current ship in the Royal Navy and was the first British naval ship to enter the deep-water Iraqi port of Um Qasr, close to the Kuwaiti border, during the opening phase of Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Mabey feels her horizons were broadened by the exposure to the work and routines of another nation’s navy.

“It was really interesting to become part of their daily work flow and help them find ways to improve,” she said.