Question: How complex are the machines and what sort of situations are you put in, like when you're under fire?

Emma Bould answered on 12 Mar 2012:

I guess most of our machines are pretty complex! However some of them are very simple and they are generally the most reliable ones.

Some of the most complicated systems are things like the Guided Weapons Systems. They use information from Radars and other sensors to detect a threat (that might be a missle being fired at us). There are then a bunch of computers which do some complicated calculations to work out how fast it is going (a little bit like what speed cameras do measuring Dopler shift). If we were to then fire back, the missle itself is another complex piece of equipment which has many parts including control systems and sensors so that it is stable in flight and so it knows to go in the right direction!

Some of the more simple systems are things like our General Purpose Machine Guns which are mechanical only but work on a basic principle of conservating of energy which is how they are automatic. Because there less parts to these, they are more reliable and don’t rely on things like electricity.

My ship has recently been in the Indian Ocean trying to reduce the amount of Piracy around the Somali Basin area. We have very strict rules about when we can use our weapons and it is very rare that we need to use them, usually only when we are in danger (we would use them for self defence). The majority of Britain’s imported goods come by sea, and maintaining safe waters for merchant ships to pass through is important for our economy. We caught some pirates who had taken some fishermen and their Dhow to use possibly as a mother ship (see the article here: http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/News-and-Events/Latest-News/2011/October/19/111019-GF-Somerset-Freed-Sailor)