September and early October has been a busy five weeks for the smallest ship in the Royal Navy with a flight deck. HMS Clyde is tasked with patrolling the Falkland Islands whilst also monitoring the airspace that covers the wider area, and routinely visits the many small settlements that feature around the Islands.
Steel was cut this week for the first of three new Royal Navy offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) at a ceremony in Glasgow. The vessels, which will be used by the Royal Navy to undertake various tasks in support of UK interests both at home and abroad, will be built at BAE Systems’ shipyards under a £348 million contract that has protected more than 800 Scottish jobs.
The Royal Navy HMS Iron Duke on Atlantic Patrol Tasking south berthed this week in South Georgia for a few days where she also met with Ice Patrol HMS Protector which arrived at the islands on her deployment to Antarctica, after battling hurricane force winds and 24 meters waves.
The UK Royal Navy is to get the second operational aircraft carrier, British Prime Minister David Cameron announced. Britain is building two 65,000-ton aircraft carriers in a £6.2 billion deal with a BAE Systems-led industry alliance, but the Conservative-led coalition had previously said it would mothball or sell the second warship due to the cost of operating two carriers.
A British warship has proudly sailed into Cape Town carrying the Rugby World Cup Trophy – ahead of next year’s event being held in the UK. Even thick rain clouds could not prevent HMS Iron Duke displaying the gold of the Web Ellis Trophy on her deck as she arrived in the South African city for a short visit.
HMS Iron Duke on Atlantic Patrol Tasking South, which includes the Falklands and South Georgia Islands, has visited the Namibian port of Walvis Bay where she has built on relations with the country’s Navy and its people.
The Royal Navy man-o-war on which Argentina formally surrendered the island of South Georgia during the 1982 Falklands War began its final journey on Wednesday before being scrapped. HMS Plymouth could not be saved despite years of attempts to find a permanent home for the frigate.
The offshore patrol vessels (OPVs), which will be used by the Royal Navy to undertake various tasks in support of UK interests both at home and abroad, will be built at BAE Systems’ shipyards in Glasgow.
The crew of the Royal Navy warship HMS Portland returned home to a rapturous welcome in Plymouth on Friday after a successful seven-month deployment to West Africa, the Falkland Islands and the Caribbean. The vessel that was replaced by HMS Iron Duke in its Atlantic deployment spent four weeks in the Falklands.
The first female commander of a major Royal Navy warship is understood to have left her vessel after allegations of an affair with one of her officers. Cdr Sarah West, 42, was coming to the end of a seven-month deployment in the Atlantic on board the Type 23 frigate HMS Portland.