First international winner for navigation award
A cadet at the Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC) has become the first international winner of a prestigious navigation award from the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office (UKHO).
Midshipman Al Tamtami of the Oman Navy won the prize for being the best performing cadet in the Bridge Trainer Assessment and Navigation Training in the passing out phase of training at the Dartmouth based college.
Midshipman Tamtami, the senior international at BRNC for the 08/2-1 phase of training, was presented by Commodore Martin Alabaster, the Commanding Officer at BRNC with a framed copy of a UKHO chart of Dartmouth Harbour, as surveyed by Captain Martin White RN in 1826, in honour of his achievement. UKHO agreed to sponsor the navigation prize to highlight the significance of this core skill required by future Bridge Watchkeeping Officers.
UKHO has a special relationship with BRNC, which has been training RN officers since 1863 and provides staff to teach navigation at Initial Officer Training level at the Dartmouth College. The college’s bridge simulator is also used by UKHO personnel to further understand the maritime environment in which UKHO charts and publications are used. In addition UKHO provides charts and publications in support of the training.
The UKHO’s Peter Heal, who is based at BRNC, said, ‘The quality of navigation training at BRNC is world renowned and the college is used not only by the Royal Navy but navies all over the world.
‘As part of their training the cadets spend time at BRNC, on the River Dart and Dartmoor, and at sea in an operational environment as well as taking part in a wide variety of sporting and cultural exchanges and activities.’
For Cadets, such as Midshipman Tamtami, passing out from BRNC marks the culmination of their first phase of naval training, which encompasses up to 12 months of arduous training for life in a warship.
