Dale-Smith takes command
UK Royal Navy Commander Victoria Dale-Smith assumed command of the Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose-based Maritime Sea King Force in July, taking the reins from Commander Andrew Rose.
UK Royal Navy Commander Victoria Dale-Smith assumed command of the Royal Naval Air Station Culdrose-based Maritime Sea King Force in July, taking the reins from Commander Andrew Rose. The Royal Navy said that Dale-Smith’s command begins at ‘a crucial time that sees, within the next two years, a drawdown of the much respected aircraft from its traditional search and rescue role at the West Cornwall Base and Prestwick in Scotland’.
Commander Dale-Smith first joined the Royal Navy in 1992, beginning her career as a welfare officer. She completed her officer of the watch course in 1994, serving her first assignment as gunnery officer onboard HMS Inverness. In 1998, she sub-specialised as a pilot, qualifying on the Sea King commando helicopter and subsequently engaging in various amphibious exercises, including embarkations in HNLMS Rotterdam and HMS Illustrious, as well as a detachment to Exercise Clockwork in northern Norway, inside the Arctic Circle. She has served operational tours in Iraq and the Former Yugoslavia, later joining RNAS Culdrose as senior pilot of 849 Naval Air Squadron, involving flying the Airborne Surveillance and Control (ASaC) Mk 7 variant of the Sea King helicopter.
“It is with enormous pride that I assume command of the Maritime Sea King Force,” she said, “especially at such a critical point in [its] history. I am blessed to have a wealth of talented personnel with diverse operational experience who contribute so much to the success of our daily operations, both in UK maritime search and rescue and operationally in the Gulf.”