The Fleet Operational Standards and Training (FOST) is a Royal Navy training organisation.[1] FOST is the training organisation responsible for ensuring that Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels are fit to join the operational fleet.[1]
Commander Fleet Operational Standards and Training Headquarters (COM FOST HQ) is the HQ from where FOST is run, and this is headed up by a Commodore.[2]
History
Operations room staff on board HMS Illustrious during Basic Operational Sea Training.
A. Cecil Hampshire's "The Royal Navy Since 1945" writes that
[U]nder the system of Home Service, General Service, and Foreign Service commissions which was introduced in 1954, warships required to be re-manned with completely new crews more frequently than in the old days of "running" commissions. Thus in September 1958 under a Flag Officer Sea Training, special "shakedown" or settling in courses lasting seven weeks were started to train the crews of newly commissioned ships in operating their equipment and give them experience in dealing with every eventuality likely to be met with in subsequent service at home and abroad.[3]
Portland was the selected location and by the time Hampshire wrote in the early 1970s, "warships from other NATO and Commonwealth countries and from foreign navies" were undertaking the same courses of training.[3]
As a result of the Royal Navy programme 'Fleet First', FOST became the single command responsible for all sea training. The submarine sea-training organisation came under FOST and surface ship training previously undertaken by Flag Officer Surface Flotilla and the squadron staffs also shifted to FOST.[6]
FOST operates a pair of Eurocopter Dauphin helicopters to allow its instructors to join vessels with minimal delay during intense training periods.[7] Plymouth Airport closed on 23 December 2011.[8] The aircraft operate from HMS Raleigh in Cornwall but are based at Newquay.[9]
As well as training Royal Navy personnel, it has also been an important source of revenue in training foreign naval crews to handle and fight their vessels, with around one third of its work used in this capacity.[7]
In May 2020, Flag Officer Sea Training became Fleet Operational Sea Training[11] and the position was taken up by a Commodore in the appointment of Commander Fleet Operational Sea Training (COM FOST).[12]
Training regime
The main training and testing period is called Basic Operational Sea Training (BOST), which typically lasts six weeks. It combines surveys of the physical condition of the ship with tests of the crew's readiness for deployment, including a weekly war-fighting and damage control scenario known as a 'Thursday War'. BOST thus has elements of the US Navy's Board of Inspection and Survey (INSURV) and Composite Training Unit Exercise assessments. When USSForrest Sherman underwent a short version of BOST in 2012, comments from her sailors included "I've been through other exercises, inspections, and deployment and this was by far the hardest ... It was even more intense than INSURV".[13]
↑ "Who is the new Flag Officer Sea Training"(PDF). whatdotheyknow.com. Whatdotheyknow. 27 April 2020. Retrieved 28 April 2020. In response to your request, I can advise you that the title Flag Officer Sea Training will cease to exist on 1 May 2020 and is replaced by the 1* post of Commander Fleet Operational Sea Training
↑ "Who is the new Flag Officer Sea Training"(PDF). whatdotheyknow.com. Whatdotheyknow. 27 April 2020. Retrieved 28 April 2020. In response to your request, I can advise you that the title Flag Officer Sea Training will cease to exist on 1 May 2020 and is replaced by the 1* post of Commander Fleet Operational Sea Training
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