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Police back on board
By John Martin
Volume 50, No. 17, September 20, 2007 |
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REINSTATED: LSNPCSM James Barwick onboard HMAS Rankin. He is the first Naval Police Coxswain on submarines since the position was abolished on the retirement of the Oberon class.
Photo: ABPH Lincoln Commane |
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LS James Barwick has a strong sense of having made history. He recently became the first Naval Police Coxswain back aboard submarines after a long absence.
The position of NPC was abolished from submarines when the Oberon Class was replaced by the Collins Class, however last year the decision was made to reinstate the position.
“I consider myself very lucky to be the first guy coming back on the submarines and I feel very privileged to be able to do it,” LS Barwick said after obtaining his dolphins on HMAS Rankin at FBW.
When LS Barwick was a boy growing up on a cattle property at Charters Towers in north Queensland, the chances of him one day serving beneath the waves might have seemed very remote indeed.
Charters Towers is 1½ hours’ drive inland from Townsville.
But before he joined the Navy about 6½ years ago, he lived in Townsville and gained a love for the sea – scuba-diving and messing around with boats.
He applied to join the Air Force and Navy, but the Navy got him first, and LS Barwick said he hadn’t looked back.
He decided two years ago that he wanted to become a police coxswain.
He got his wish when he transferred from HMAS Cairns where he worked as a bosun’s mate to the Naval Investigations Authority at HMAS Kuttabul in Sydney.
When he heard that there were plans to put police coxswains back on submarines, he was one of the first to volunteer last September.
LS Barwick said he had always liked submarines.
“The prospect of being the first coxswain to come back on these was pretty alluring,” he said.
LS Barwick transferred to HMAS Stirling in December. He started his Initial Collins Class course in January, finished that in April and joined HMAS Rankin on April 23.
It generally takes three to six months to get your dolphins once aboard, but LS Barwick put in heaps of extra time and qualified in nine weeks.
His role includes controlling leave, discipline and movements.
He said it was challenging but rewarding work. It was good to be able to help people, for good reasons or bad.
And now he has his dolphins, he can proudly call himself a submariner. |
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