Officer Cadets from Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC) have been airlifted back to Dartmouth from an exercise on Dartmoor.

The Cadets, who joined the Royal Navy in September, spent five days on the moor living under canvas, while carrying out a range of tasks under the watchful eyes of instructors from the College.

Known as the Assessed Basic Leadership Exercise (ABLE), the exercise falls during the Cadets ninth week of their 30-week initial training programme.

Captain Jol Woodard, the Commanding Officer of BRNC, said: “We aim to make our training as realistic and relevant as we can, so the added participation of a Chinook helicopter in bringing our Cadets back from Dartmoor is a tremendous experience and great preparation for their future careers.

“ABLE is a deliberately tough week for the Cadets and their first real test. We prepare them by spending time up on the moors coaching them through the various elements of operating in the field two weeks prior to the exercise, but during ABLE it’s up to them to show us what they’ve learnt and how they apply those skills and common sense under pressure.”

The activities within the exercise surround a fictional scenario that sees the cadets supporting a UN mission on Dartmoor.

The small teams could find themselves locating and recovering casualties to a safe location, setting up communications systems to aid the UN effort and identifying suitable drop zones for vital stores support.

The tasks are designed to be challenging so that the Cadets’ leadership skills can be assessed when they are tired and working in arduous conditions.