Twenty years ago, Commander Sarah West RN (pictured right) was sitting in an office working for an industrial firm and wondering what the future held for her.

She glanced over to a newspaper lying close by, and her eye caught a recruitment advertisement for the Royal Navy.

Not long afterwards, in September 1995, she joined the Britannia Royal Naval College as a Warfare Officer. She gradually worked her way up through the ranks and in 2012 she was appointed the first female to ever command a Royal Navy Frigate.

“I wanted to work with radar and sonars and not only to maintain and fix them,” she said of her life-changing decision to join the Navy.

Commander Sarah West is currently commander of HMS Portland, the fastest and most fearless Type 23 frigate in the Royal Navy. The ship is currently in Cape Town, as part of her deployment as the Atlantic Patrol Ship. During her seven-month deployment from Plymouth, she will do maritime security operations, including counter-narcotics and anti-piracy patrols, as well as working along with other navies, including the South African Navy, to strengthen ties in the region.

When she berthed in Cape Town harbour, the BLOODHOUND education team in South Africa, assisted by a number of BLOODHOUND Ambassadors, was at hand to welcome her to South Africa.

The BLOODHOUND is a British project that aims to break the current land-speed record of 763.035mph (1, 227.986km/h) – held by BLOODHOUND SSC driver Andy Green – by doing 1000mph (1609km/h) at Hakskeen Pan in the Northern Cape in 2016.

The car, which is currently being built in Bristol in the UK, will be powered by three engines, namely a F1 racing engine (used as a pump for the rocket fuel), a Eurofighter Typhoon jet engine and a rocket engine.

Invited by the British High Commission, the BLOODHOUND team displayed an exhibition to over 150 high level guests that visited the ship on Friday night, while it entertained the ship’s company with a BLOODHOUND driving experience competition on Saturday. Assisted by Edit Microsystems, they also showed kids how to build rocket cars and race them.

“Edit Microsystems brought their LabDisk, which is a multi-faceted science tool, that could also be used to measure how fast they were going and turning a fun experience into a maths lesson at the same time,” said Dave Rowley, BLOODHOUND’S education director in South Africa.

Commander West, who is in charge of the 185 highly-trained sailors that operate and maintain some of the Royal Navy’s most high-tech equipment said she was impressed by the project.

“To see how the technology and the three engines work together successfully is fascinating. I will be following BLOODHOUND SSC’s runs on Hakskeen Pan very closely, probably from somewhere at sea!”

One of BLOODHOUND’S cornerstone initiatives is to inspire new generations of engineers and scientists, and to stimulate children – in the UK and in South Africa – to study subjects like maths and science.

This is a cause Commander West supports wholly. “It is absolutely imperative,” she said.

One of the HMS Portland’s young up-and-coming officers, Sub-Lieutenant Katie Hodgson, believes it is important to inspire more women to get into the fields of science and engineering. “There are so much more than hammers and spanners,” said Hodgson, a marine engineer on board HMS Portland. “You can also go into fields like project management and so on, but having maths and science is vital.”

Right after school, at the age of 16, Hodgson walked into a Royal Navy recruitment office and was “hooked” immediately. “I wanted to see the world while getting paid for it, and get an education, and in the Navy I got all three,” she said.

About 20 of the ship’s company competed in the BLOODHOUND driving experience – a virtual version of the 1000mph car. The competition was won by the ship’s Weapon Engineer Officer and PR officer, Lieutenant Commander John Brennan, who clocked 1014,8 mph who was presented with his certificate and BLOODHOUND SSC cap.

For more on HMS Portland visiting Cape Town, click here.

The Bloodhound Education team visits schools across South Africa, inspiring pupils and teachers with an exciting workshop, displays and rocket car competitions. If you want them to visit your school, contact Dave Rowley or Wendy Maxwell.