HEARTFELT GOODBYE AS HMS HIBERNIA WELCOMES A NEW COMMANDING OFFICER

In a short ceremony held at HMS HIBERNIA on Thursday evening, Commander Ian Allen RD RNR passed command of Northern Ireland’s Royal Naval Reserve unit to Cdr Neil Downing RD RNR.

The event was attended by the Lord Lieutenant of Co. Antrim, Mrs Joan Christie, Commodore Martin Quinn (Commander Maritime Reserves and former CO HMS HIBERNIA) and the Deputy Mayor of Lisburn, Alderman Stephen Martin. Also in attendance were Lord and Lady Carswell, who themselves have a strong association with the Royal Naval Reserves in Northern Ireland; Lady Carswell held the position of Honorary Captain Royal Naval Reserve from 2005 to 2013.

Commander Allen welcomed his guests to HMS HIBERNIA before giving a sincere reflection on his four years as Captain.  He spoke of the highs and lows of his time in command and gave a proud account of the contribution HMS HIBERNIA personnel have made to maritime operations in Afghanistan, the Arabian Gulf and Djibouti to name but a few.  

Reflecting on the unit’s support to the nation he conveyed the contribution of the fifteen HMS HIBERNIA personnel to the security of the Olympic Games in 2012 and the seventeen personnel who attended the London Cenotaph for the Gallipoli 100 commemoration, the largest representation from any RNR unit. He outlined the unit’s past recruitment issues which have been successfully overcome and, speaking of retention, proudly declared, ‘We’re good at this!’ attributing it to the ‘fantastic esprit de corps’ within the unit. He concluded:

‘It has been an absolute honour and a privilege. I have had the best permanent staff team in the RNR, the best recruiting team in the RNR, the best Ship’s Company in the RNR and simply the best unit in the RNR!’

Cdr Allen then handed the ‘baton’, a 100 year old Officer of the Day telescope, engraved with the names of the CO’s involved in past supersession ceremonies, to Cdr Downing.

Thanking Cdr Allen, Cdr Downing spoke of his own pride in taking on his role as Captain after thirty years of service in the Maritime Reserves. Assuring his new ship’s company of minimum disruption during this period of transition he promised continued improvement and delivery of operational capability in line with Future Reserves 2020.

Following his final ceremony of evening colours as Commanding Officer, the ship’s company gave a ‘cheer ship’, as Cdr Allen shook hands with Cdr Downing and gave the traditional naval handover, ‘You have the ship’ to which Cdr Downing dutifully responded, ‘I have the ship’.

Commander Allen became the Captain of HMS HIBERNIA in March 2012. His Reservist career has been somewhat unique; he is one of very few RNR Officers to have commanded twice having had responsibility for HMS HIBERNIA and HMS CAROLINE, the previous home of Northern Ireland’s Naval Reserve unit where he was CO for two and a half years.

Cdr Allen said:

‘There have been many highlights to my time as CO HMS HIBERNIA which began with overseeing the completion of the building works when we took full occupation of the refurbished building.

‘A high point was standing at the passing out parade at HMS RALEIGH when 21 of the 28 Reservists on parade were from HMS HIBERNIA’s Project Poseidon. That was a particularly proud moment for me.

‘More recently I was honoured to watch my ship’s company forming the guard at HMS CAROLINE’s re-opening to the public after a re-fit (and the commemoration of the Battle of Jutland).

‘During my time at HMS HIBERNIA I’ve seen the unit grow and watched as many of my officers and ratings have been promoted.

Comparing his two periods of command of Northern Ireland’s RNR, Cdr Allen said:

‘CAROLINE was of a different era, and all who served in her were very fond and proud of the ship. However, we have moved on and HIBERNIA offers a far superior training environment with access to all the amenities of Thiepval Barracks.   We are also now far better integrated with the Army Reserve, 38 Brigade and the general military family within Northern Ireland.’

Commander Allen will take up the full time position of SO1 RNR at CMR HQ. His words of advice to Cdr Downing:

‘Enjoy it, it’s the best job in the RNR, with the best people at the best Unit!’