HMS Bristol

How do I go about booking HMS Bristol?

Phoenix hire?
Do you have Type82 on your FMT600?

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Fair play hahahaha. :joy::joy:

Is there an ACLO type person who needs to be contacted.

I’ve sent you a PM with contact details for a regular user who should be able to help :blush:

Much appreciated.

You book direct with the ship, the ACLO type role doesn’t exist anymore unfortunatkey PM me if you need any more details.

Do Naval stations as a rule not have an ACLO type figure then?

Now that I’ve got hold of the accommodation manager and secured some dates I’m trying to figure out what to do whilst we’re there. Open to any suggestions you guys may have.

HMS Excellent/Bristol used to have one but they haven’t had for a good few years.

You have the Historic Dockyard & Royal Marine Museum for a bit of culture. The RM Museum in particular will do a youth session if you contact them. (They also do discounts for people with MOD90’s)

The RNLI at Southsea will do you a tour and a talk, well worth talking to them.

HMS Excellent has a Damage Repair Simulator, I’ve never booked it, but looking at Tower Hamlets Sqn Twitter they have used it recently so they might be worth a chat.

Also worth pointing out that back when Bristol used to have an ACLO type role everything could be arranged through one PoC.
Now though, if you hope to feed your cadets and staff in the messes at Excellent you’ll need to arrange that separately. Booking onto Bristol won’t automatically do that.

Jim will sort that out for you if you ask him, at least he did for us.

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That’s good to know!

Thanks guys.

I’ve been told I need to send a form to RHQ to inform them we’re visiting. Unfortunately the person who told me this can’t remember which form it is. Can anyone shed some light?

I’ve never done that whenever I’ve used it. I do however attach the booking form to my Camp application as a matter of course.

Can anybody tell me whether or not bedding is provided for both cadets and staff on board?

Yes they do, you are specifically forbidden from bringing sleeping bags in the ships orders. If you contact Jim he will send them to you .

Thanks

This sounds really interesting, but I know nothing about it. Can anyone summarise what HMS Bristol is and has available, and maybe explain a bit more about the booking process here rather than PM?

HMS Bristol is a Type 82 Destroyer. Built to escort a class of Aircraft carriers that never materialized.

She is permanently moored on the quay at HMS Excellent (a shore establishment on Whale Island, Portsmouth and home of Naval HQ).

The Royal Navy use her as a training ship but for our purposes she is basically just accommodation.
If you’ve got a visit or course going on in Portsmouth you can book space onboard.
They offer mess deck accommodation for the cadets - bunk rooms with 3 bunks to a tier; and cabins for the staff. Or if it’s very full on board, SNCO Staff also get Senior Rates mess decks.

There is a small senior rates mess bar and Wardroom for the officers.

Meals can be taken in the mess ashore.

There are a whole load of training classrooms and cinema aboard and I dare say one may be able to book these too.

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NB the Wardroom doesn’t have a bar - you share the same bar with the Senior Rates. Or bring your own (we did…)

And (quite rightly) it has a large notice reminding you that alcohol and duty of care for cadets don’t mix - standard ACO rules though, i.e. you need sober duty staff but the rest of you can be off duty and drink.