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Finding a few days free in the diary, Lieutenant William De La Mare set sail for Guernsey – bringing his five-strong crew with him aboard HMS Puncher.
As Commanding Officer of the small Royal Navy patrol vessel based out of Portsmouth, he was able to secure permission to arrange a week-long visit which included taking part in parades for the King’s coronation and the 78th anniversary of the island’s Liberation.
“Originally I was meant to be in the Baltic with another ship,” he explained, “but due to the programming and other ship’s availability there was a possibility that I could bring my ship, HMS Puncher to Guernsey for the Coronation and Liberation Day. So I spoke to my Commanding Officer and he said ‘absolutely’.”
Pictured: HMS Puncher in St Peter Port Harbour in May.
While docked in St Peter Port Harbour the crew welcomed members of the public aboard to explain what they do, and why.
“Members of the public come on and see what we do, what the Royal Navy does, what the platform is capable of doing but also speaking to the ship’s company about their roles on board. We have various roles - engineers, logistics - and speaking to them to see what they do on a day-to-day basis.
“We're quite a diverse ship within the Navy, because we are so unique and we are that small, and a lot smaller than a Frigate or a Carrier, we can get into places that they can’t get into. We can do safety and life at sea, we can do engagements so like for Liberation Day we can come in and fly the flags, we conduct exercises with other Navys and pretend we’re the enemy and are an attacking craft.
“We're trying to find out exactly what these platforms can do and we’re pushing the boundaries of what we can achieve. Recently we went to the arctic circle and did a big exercise with the Norwegian Navy.”
Lt De La Mare was Commanding Officer of HMS Puncher from October, 2021 until 12 May this year. While in Guernsey he handed the vessel over to his successor, Lieutenant Snow.
Lt De La Mare will next be posted to a larger vessel where he’ll take the next step on his own career path.
Pictured: Lieutenant William De La Mare handing HMS Puncher over to his successor, Captain Snow.
“My next immediate step is to be the navigator of a ship, whatever ship that is at the moment – we'll find out.
“My aim is to be on board a Type 23 Frigate so another diverse platform with anti-submarine operations and anti-surface operations.
“On a Frigate the Captain of the ship will be a Commander, and he’ll have a second in command who’ll be a Lieutenant Commander and I’ll be the Lieutenant on board.
“Moving on to my next ship I will be one of the Senior Lieutenants on board. Hopefully within the next five years I’ll be promoted to Lieutenant Commander. The Navigator is a Senior Lieutenant on board, so he or she is responsible for maintaining and running the bridge team who will be another set of three or four Lieutenants.”
The role of different vessels within the Royal Navy fleet dictates the number of crew aboard and the roles fulfilled by those crew members.
Pictured: HMS Puncher on a training exercise in the Little Russell.
With HMS Puncher being used primarily for training officer cadets, the tasks it is set reflect the specific roles of the five-strong crew.
Lt De La Mare has honed his commanding officer skills and will be looking to further his experience on a larger ship after bidding Puncher farewell in St Peter Port.
“There are approximately 50-60 career specialisations in the Royal Navy,” he said.
“You have Warfare – being responsible for fighting the ship at sea, they work on the sensors and the weapon systems and in times of war they’re responsible for fighting the ship. They’re supported by other branches as well, so the Marine Engineers – they make sure the platform is working correctly. They're responsible for everything from propulsion to lighting and the toilets on board. They basically keep the ship running.
“Weapon’s Engineers are responsible for keeping all the weapon systems maintained – but that also ties into navigation equipment and communications equipment.
Pictured: HMS Puncher on a previous deployment.
“Finally, you have Logistics so they’re responsible for making sure our pay is done correctly, food, accommodation - they make sure we’re well looked after.
“Those are the main branches of the Navy and then within those there’re many different trades. Within engineering you could be an electrician, propulsion, a DIY specialists...
“Within warfare you could be a Warfare Officer so driving the ship, you could be a diver, you could be swimming down to clear mines.
“There are so many different branches in the Navy but I think it’s important to say that every single trade or branch within the Royal Navy and Royal Marines are open to women, so there’s nothing that is restricted. Women can do absolutely anything.”
Pictured: Lieutenant William De La Mare aboard HMS Puncher with his father.
With his career path stretching out before him within the Royal Navy, Lt De La Mare has very fond memories of his first job in Guernsey as a school boy.
He worked for Guernsey Harbours over the summer months, helping with the administration of visiting boats, and sailing around the marinas in a dinghy helping guests where he could.
He laughed as he was told that a former colleague at Guernsey Harbours had remembered him as a “a top lad” but one who “never mastered the art of tea making”.
It is that sense of camaraderie that Lt De La Mare has continued to enjoy as he progresses through the ranks of the Royal Navy.
“Everyone always talks about the Navy and we have some fantastic platforms which enable us to do our job but it’s the people that operate them which is where the speciality comes in, and without my ship’s company on board I wouldn’t have been able to achieve anything within this role that I would have liked to have done. So, a big thanks to my ship’s company for helping us achieve what our superiors need us to do but also what I need us to do in my role.”
Pictured: All local photos taken by Milly Mallender.
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Change of command ceremony in St Peter Port Harbour
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