UK Royal Navy Buys 230 PSP Consoles for Technician Training

The Royal Navy of the United Kingdom has purchased 230 PlayStation Portable consoles for use in the training of marine warfare engineering technicians. Each Royal Navy PSP comes equipped with a training program consisting of slides and instructor commentary to prepare technicians for upcoming courses at The Maritime Warfare School, located in HMS Collingwood in Fareham, Hampshire. The PSP training applications were developed by Lieutenant-Commander Mark Williams. "On most ships, the space people have is quite small," Williams told Times Online. "Many have bunks with just a couple of feet above. This is the sort of thing that can be used in a bunk space." The purchase comes in response to a growing dropout rate for The Maritime Warfare School training program, in which nearly a quarter of enrolled students were having to drop or retake courses. The total cost of the project, including Williams' application development, was almost £50,000.