A full Action Stations exercise this morning, including ‘Take Cover’, meaning we all had to lie on the floor or brace ourselves for an imminent bomb/missile/etc hit, and full Damage Control evolutions. This was complete with casualties very realistically made up, with bits of broken bone showing and full sound effects: sailors always seem to enjoy a bit of playacting, and certainly the ship rang with most realistic yells and screams of pain.
Paul had the Forenoon watch in the Ops Room, so I spent the entire exercise sitting in the Air Office (where I am now typing this, as a matter of fact) in the dark, with just the dim emergency lights on (power had apparently failed as a result of the damage we had sustained) from 0900 to about 1030. Very boring, really, but essential to make sure that our damage-control teams are on the ball and able to cope with whatever may lie ahead.
A very long day. The last serial of the day finished at 0200 in the morning, and by the time I had gone up to speak to the aircrew and had a cup of coffee it was 0300, which meant very late to bed. The best time by far to debrief aircrew is immediately after an exercise, when they are a) sober and b) everything is still fresh in their minds. In this case there were no adverse comments about the controlling, and I should bloody well hope not, with Gerry doing the directing and me handling the talkdown, but there were complaints about the radios.
That, I’m pleased to say, is Someone Else’s Problem.