Royal Navy sailors and Royal Marines are to receive a new facility for more realistic board-and-search training at HMS Raleigh in Torpoint, UK.
The ‘ship in a box’ comprises 21 ISO containers similar to those used on cargo ships, stacked to create a three-storey superstructure crowned by a bridge.
Royal Navy and Royal Marines board-and-search teams will use the realistic mock-up ship to strengthen their skills, ranging from the fast roping out of helicopters to searching hidden compartments and using artificial ammunition to neutralise foes.
The £1m facility features secret compartments and hiding places used by smugglers, drug runners and terrorists in the real world. It is scheduled to be launched in spring.
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By GlobalDataCurrently, sailors and marines are using the Cossack building for compliant boarding training prior to moving on to practising with merchant vessels off Plymouth.
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Royal Marines lieutenant Chris Carter said that the marines will still use Cossack, which mirrors part of a ship, for training.
"But this new facility will really test them as a team in an environment that’s as real as we can make it," Carter added.
"With the ‘ship in a box’ you actually have a proper merchant ship with every type of compartment you’d expect to find for real."
Construction of the site is underway near Trevol Jetty at the south-eastern tip of Raleigh and is scheduled to be completed in March 2014.
Image: Workmen at HMS Raleigh fitting out the compartments. Photo: Royal Navy.
