Montrose's Lynx helps with rapid rope training

HMS Montrose’s Royal Navy and Royal Marines Boarding Team (RNRMBT) has been honing its fast-rope boarding skills during some vital training in the Gulf. 

Leading Hand (Photographer) Alex Knott perfectly described the uber-cool training moves as: “Falling with style, guided by a rope.” 

Using the ship’s Lynx Mk8 helicopter as a sky-borne platform, eager members of the boarding team made the exciting and speedy descent onto Montrose’s flight deck, simulating the drills needed to land on a suspect vessel. 

The Lynx helicopter flight crew also used the training flight to practice winching, weapon loading and under-slung load transfer. 

There can be no teeth without the tail, and USNS Pecos was later on hand to feed Montrose’s thirsty Rolls Royce gas turbines in a smooth RAS conducted in glorious Middle Eastern sunshine.