The Royal Navy is nothing if not international – both in its operations and its people, if they’re eligible to join the ‘Senior Service’ (so called because it’s reckoned to be the first formal fighting force in British history.) In keeping with that tradition, our first trainee interviewee is Beatrice Ramoala, who’s from Fiji. She tells us she chose engineering because it appeals to her creativity – that there’s an art to understanding machines and making them work, and she clicks on that. Also, fixing them. It’s evident that in a complex machine like a warship there’s a shedload (boatload?) of maintenance to do, so the trainees have a lot of cleaning on their hands. But, no matter how small, every task matters – simply because when it’s needed it has to be ready to work first time. No ifs. No buts. Always.
The Fijian Connection
29 May 2015
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About Rob
Rob is a TV producer, reporter and camera operator with 30 years of experience at the BBC, Channel 4 and ITN, in news, factual and documentary production. He is a four-time award winner, whose awards include a coveted Royal Television Society award for his work on Channel 4 News. His association with the Maritime Foundation goes back to 1995 when he won the first Desmond Wettern Maritime Media Award for a series of reports that led to a major documentary on the loss of the bulk carrier Derbyshire.