Targeted training

Nicknamed the ‘Senior Service’, the Royal Navy is the oldest of the UK’s armed forces, and formed an integral part of Britain’s growth over the centuries. Once the largest navy in the world, the Royal Navy (like the British Army and Royal Air Force) now takes part in multi-national operations across the world, working alongside NATO forces, the United States, and the United Nations. A keen procurer and developer of technology, how does elearning fit into the Royal Navy’s training strategy? TrainingZone.co.uk spoke with Commander Richard Clarke, who works in the Flag Office Sea Training (FOST) training division at Naval Command Headquarters, based in Portsmouth. He revealed to me how elearning is increasingly vital within the service – and how some facets are on a very grand scale. “The Navy, like the RAF, is a heavy investor in the use of technology...Going back to the 1980s, we worked very much at the forefront of elearning development in order to maximise our investment in training people on some very complicated bits of kit.”