Awarded to Engineering Technician Michael Rooney RN
There follows the citation for this award, by Senior Warden Simon Underwood

 

Engineering Technician Michael Rooney joined the Royal Navy in 1998 and has served across a range of ships and overseas postings. He has served in HMS MERSEY since October 2021.

Over the past 12 months, ET ROONEY has been employed within the Propulsion section of the Marine Engineering department in MERSEY. Due to workforce constraints, which included the gapping of the Petty Officer section head, ET ROONEY has had to deal with much of the work and departmental management alone.

Throughout the year MERSEY has been assigned to high-profile, no fail missions including the escorting of countless Russian Naval units through UK waters. More recently, MERSEY has spent the last 5 months operating in the English Channel safeguarding the safety of life at sea, responding to the on-going migrant situation between Dover and Calais. The high-profile nature of these tasks has demanded near constant availability of the Ship and her systems with little time for maintenance.

ET ROONEY has tackled high profile defects which could have forced the ship alongside had they not been addressed quickly. Defects on a number of cylinder heads on the Port Main engine required changing and his early identification of failing fresh water cooling valves prevented a catastrophic failure of the main engines. With 85% of the last 5 months spent at sea the engines have been running almost constantly. The ability to conduct maintenance has been limited yet he has found and made ways to manage hours and ensure their availability.

Not only shining on the practical aspects of engineering, his section administration has been exemplary. Routinely liaising with shoreside he manages stores demands and work requisition forms to ensure the enduring sustainability of the section. This should all be remembered in the context of the gapping of his section head requiring ET ROONEY to work by himself and at a level two ranks above his current position.

With his strong knowledge of the ship and the engineering systems, he has taken great pride in subordinate development, assisting in training up several new joiners to MERSEY and to our sister ship HMS TYNE. Deservedly selected for promotion this year, he will sadly leave the ship early in the New Year and his character and work ethic will be sorely missed.

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