Daddy-daughter day on RSS Persistence

In the early morning of 14 Sep, little Darra Hu was brimming with energy, running circles around her dad as he walked over to greet us at the wharf where RSS Persistence was docked.

It was Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Daniel Hu Junjie’s last week as Commanding Officer (CO) of the Landing Ship Tank, with the crew preparing for the Change of Command Parade on 17 Sep alongside their daily training and duties.

The 39-year-old will be taking over as CO of the Republic of Singapore Navy’s Civil Resource Training Unit on 9 Oct.

Darra may be only four years old, but she is no stranger to the ship, having been on board six times before.

Full of confidence, she zipped past the PIONEER team, leading the way for us once LTC Hu told her which part of the ship we were heading to.

She was also familiar with safety practices, calling out “Watch out, big step!” whenever crossing the elevated threshold of doors around the ship.

In fact, she waited for us to acknowledge by echoing the warning after her – a standard practice on board ship.