MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

HMS Ark Royal sails up the Thames for Falklands' anniversary

HMS Ark Royal passes the Millenium Dome (RN)

The Royal Navy's Flagship, HMS Ark Royal sailed up the Thames on Wednesday 13 June to London to support the National Falklands 25th Anniversary Commemorative events. The aircraft carrier will be clearly visible at a buoy off Greenwich Pier until 18 June 2007 and will be hosting thousands of guests on pre-arranged visits from a wide range of London community groups and local schools during the week she is in town.

Although the warship is not open to the general public during her stay, visitors to the Greenwich Pier or from the North side of the river will get an excellent viewpoint of one of the Royal Navy's largest and most versatile ships in the Fleet. HMS Ark Royal has just completed the multi-national Joint training exercise Noble Mariner 07 in the Baltic Sea in preparation for her leading Command ship role within the NATO Response Force (NRF). Currently operating as a Commando Helicopter Carrier, HMS Ark Royal embarked the UK's Maritime Battlestaff who coordinated the maritime campaign from the carrier. The exercise successfully completed the final stages of the ship's regeneration from refit through an intense period of sea training to full operational readiness. HMS Ark Royal's Commanding Officer, Captain Mike Mansergh said, "We are delighted to have the opportunity to pay a visit to London. It is very appropriate that the Fleet Flagship should be in London at this time of commemoration." He continued, "This has been a hugely challenging period and I am delighted with the performance of the Ship's company and the Ship. We are now ready in all respects to deploy anywhere in the world to support a wide range of missions. In particular, the period on call as part of NATO's High Readiness Force shows that the UK and NATO is committed to maintaining an insurance policy ready to react to any problem world-wide" HMS Ark Royal is one of three Invincible Class Aircraft Carriers. These ships are very versatile, with a number of different roles, based on the type of aircraft and embarked force carried. Principally the ships carry Harrier Jets, designed to strike deep in land in support of Land Forces. However, HMS Ark Royal is currently operating in the Commando Carrier role, configured to carry Sea King, Chinook, Lynx and eventually Apache Helicopters and up to 400 Royal Marines, providing a powerful amphibious force. Her recent refit has made the ship highly efficient at delivering this capability by the addition of a state of the art satellite and radio communications system. From late summer, HMS Ark Royal will in be acting as the NATO High Readiness Force Command Platform; effectively the on-call NATO Flag Ship.