Four Royal Navy vessels return home

The Royal Navy has welcomed home four vessels from various deployments around the world over the past week - HMS St Albans, HMS Portland, HMS Brocklesby and HMS Talent.

HMS St Albans has returned home after completing Exercise 'Baltops 2009'
[Picture: Crown Copyright/MOD 2009]

HMS St Albans

Royal Navy frigate HMS St Albans returned to Portsmouth, her home port, today, Friday 3 July 2009, after six months at sea. Most recently she took part in Exercise 'Baltops 2009' in the Baltic working alongside ships from both NATO and other navies in the region.

This large maritime annual exercise has promoted mutual understanding between NATO and 'Partnership for Peace' participants in the region since 1993. Exercise 'Baltops 2009' brings thousands of multi-national sailors together in a joint response to a variety of maritime security scenarios, incorporating anti-submarine and anti-air warfare, radar tracking, interception, mine countermeasures, search and rescue, and maritime interdiction operations, to prevent smuggling of arms, people and weapons.

Commanding Officer of HMS St Albans, Commander Adrian Pierce, said:

"A tremendously varied six months has seen St Albans and her great ship's company achieve an enormous amount in areas on all four corners of Europe and beyond; Alexandria in the south, Haifa in the east, Brittany in the west, and St Petersburg in the north.

"Building links and furthering alliances and coalitions, it has been a delight to lead such a well trained group of sailors. They have acted as ambassadors for the Royal Navy and Great Britain while continuing to strengthen maritime security and allowing mariners to sail the seas in safety."

The frigate left Portsmouth at the beginning of the year and headed for the Mediterranean to take part in the NATO operation 'Active Endeavour'. In this operation NATO ships are patrolling the Mediterranean and monitoring shipping to help detect, deter and protect against terrorist activity.

During a particularly busy period of surge operations in the southern Mediterranean in March HMS St Albans hailed over 200 merchant cargo vessels and tankers on the busy shipping trade routes.

HMS Portland
[Picture: Crown Copyright/MOD 2008]

HMS Portland
 
After spending eight months away from home conducting maritime operations in the Middle East and Indian Ocean, Plymouth-based warship HMS Portland and her crew also returned to Devonport today.

Since HMS Portland deployed in November 2008, the ship's company has participated in over 30 successful anti-piracy and counter-narcotics boardings and intercepts as part of the Combined Maritime Forces Task Force 151 and 150 in the northern Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden and Horn of Africa.

Portland also visited Gibraltar, Crete, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Pakistan, India, Jordan and Malta whilst on deployment and operated with a large number of navies from all around the globe. In doing so, HMS Portland travelled a total of 49,500 nautical miles, the equivalent of twice around the world at the equator.

Commanding Officer of HMS Portland, Commander Tim Henry, said:

"Every member of my ship's company has worked extremely hard, often under the most taxing conditions, throughout this hugely successful deployment.

"Without their dedication and commitment we would not have been able to achieve the successes that we have; from the cutting-edge of counter-piracy operations and maritime security, to flying the flag for the UK and Royal Navy, HMS Portland has been at the forefront of maritime operations in the northern Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden and Horn of Africa.

"All of this, of course, would not have been possible without the continued support and encouragement of our families and friends at home."

HMS Brocklesby in Sardinia during Exercise Loyal Mariner 09
[Picture: Crown Copyright/MOD 2009]

HMS Brocklesby

HMS Brocklesby returned home to Portsmouth Naval Base from a six-month deployment to the Mediterranean, North Sea and Baltic, yesterday, Thursday 2 July 2009.

HMS Brocklesby's skilled team of mine warfare experts has had success in detecting and disposing of historic ordnance from the Second World War in both the Mediterranean during NATO Exercise Loyal Mariner and in the English Channel and North Sea, including six aircraft bombs - three of which the disposal teams had to raise from the seabed and move clear of underwater pipelines before countermining them.

The ship returns following a maritime exercise in the Baltic working alongside 50 other ships from NATO and other regional navies. The ship has also recently participated in Kiel Week festivities in Germany.

Both HMS Brocklesby and Royal Navy frigate HMS St Albans attended a formal wreath-laying ceremony at the Commonwealth War Cemetery to mark the sacrifice of sailors from all nations.

Commanding Officer of HMS Brocklesby, Lieutenant Commander Tom Tredray, said:

"Deploying as part of the NATO Mine Countermeasures Group has been an excellent opportunity to work closely with our allies. We have made some good friends over the last six months and operated successfully from the Baltic to the Mediterranean.

"Through our work to dispose of explosives left over from the Second World War, we have also helped to make the seas around Europe safer for everyone, especially fishermen."

HMS Talent has returned home from an operation in the Mediterranean
[Picture: LA(Phot) Stuart 'Pusser' Hill, Crown Copyright/MOD 2009]

HMS Talent

On Wednesday 24 June 2009, HMS Talent returned to her home port of Devonport, Plymouth, after a deployment of nearly six months.

One of seven Trafalgar Class submarines based in the West Country, HMS Talent sailed from Plymouth in January. After a brief spell exercising off the snowy coast of Scotland, the boat deployed and exercised in both the Mediterranean and the Middle East in support of the Taurus 09 Task Group.

Made up from 12 ships and a Royal Marine detachment the Task Group was the largest that the Royal Navy has assembled in more than a decade.

The deployment saw HMS Talent involved in a series of international exercises that took place off the coasts of a number of countries, including Cyprus, Italy and Turkey, as well as in the Indian Ocean.

During this period HMS Talent conducted a wide range of tasks including the provision of a target for anti-submarine warfare training, beach reconnaissance in support of an amphibious landing exercise and intelligence collections from both sea- and land-based assets.

Commanding Officer of HMS Talent, Commander Simon Asquith, said:

"It is good to be back amongst family and friends after such a busy and varied deployment. At a time when the Royal Navy is busier than ever, it is great to have been able to play our part and my team should be very proud of what they have achieved."

News source:

www.mod.uk

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