Western Daily Press (Saturday)
HMS Argyll home after eventful Pacific trip
AROUND 900 family and friends have cheered HMS Argyll home after her nine-month mission to the Pacific.
Just days after rescuing the crew of a blazing container ship off the French coast, the frigate and her 210 sailors and Royal Marines arrived back in Plymouth.
The warship covered the equivalent of one and a half times around the globe as she sailed to Tokyo and back via Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Gulf, Pakistan, Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Diego Garcia, Greece and Malta.
Her crew safeguarded shipping passing Yemen – in the face of threats of attacks on vessels from rebels, relying on her Sea Ceptor defence system to watch for potential missile attacks.
Six times Argyll ran the gauntlet of the Bab al Mandeb Strait doing exactly what she was designed to do: protect high-value shipping.
After the tension of the Red Sea, there was a chance to renew old friendships in Pakistan with former Royal Navy ship HMS Ambuscade, sold to the Commonwealth nation two decades ago and still in service as the PNS Tariq.
The Argyll also conducted several weeks of patrols enforcing the UN Embargo on North Korea’s fuel imports by keeping a close eye on shipping in the East China Sea.
There were further stops on the way home, before the drama on Sunday night/Monday morning of the blazing Grande America off Brittany where a concerted effort by everyone on board ensured all the cargo ship’s 27 sailors were saved before the 28,000-tonne vessel sank.