American FOST – for only the second time in fifty years an American warship was put to the ultimate test by Royal Navy trainers carrying out Operational Sea Training – the benchmark for any RN warship intending to deploy in the hands of the Flag Officer Sea Training/Plymouth.   The US Arleigh Burke Destroyer USS FORREST SHERMAN (a participant in Exercise Joint Warrior) spent two weeks in the hands of the FOST and hailed the realistic nature of her rigorous work out.    All British warships and Royal Fleet Auxiliary support vessels must go through Operational Sea Training before being declared ready to deploy and the intensive two months in the hands of the FOST assessors is compared by some ships as ‘pre-season training’ in the sporting world.    In the case of the USS FORREST SHERMAN time did not allow the full FOST experience, and ‘only’ had two four day condensed bursts of training: one period alongside, where the FOSTies determine whether the ship is ready for the intense examination, followed by the at sea test, climaxing in the (in)famous ‘Thursday War’.