The Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyer, HMS Defender, returned to Portsmouth yesterday having ensured safe passage of a Russian task group along the country’s coast.
The Russian task group including a 65,000 tonne aircraft carrier, anchored in the Moray Firth due to bad weather.
HMS Defender completed a 700 mile journey despite bad weather to welcome the task group. The destroyer was on duty as high readiness ship of the Navy over the holidays, which means that she was ready to respond to a wide range of short notice tasks.
Operations Officer of HMS Defender, Lieutenant Commander Mark Mason, said that this task demonstrates HMS Defender’s flexibility and agility.
[mappress] Naval Today Staff, January 10, 2014; Image: Royal Navy