The Royal Navy’s state-of-the-art Type 45 destroyer HMS Dauntless will sail into her adopted port of Great Yarmouth next week (08 Feb).
She will arrive at the docks at approx 10am on February 8, leaving at around 9am on February 11.
And it will be a very busy schedule for the weekend, kicking off on Friday with visits by Lowestoft and East Norfolk Colleges in the evening, followed in the afternoon by a resilience capability demonstration to emergency services, rounding off in the evening with a reception on board for invited guests.
Saturday brings with it varying commitments throughout the town including sports matches with local clubs, further group tours of the ship and a number of charity activities.
But the highlight of the weekend must certainly be both the parade through the town by the ship’s company and the ship opening its gangway to members of the public.
The parade is a great honour for HMS Dauntless’ crew and will be leaving the Town Hall at 10.45am and finishing up at St Nicholas Church for a special service.
Once the service has finished, the parade will then move back to the Town Hall where Mayor Colleen Walker will take the salute outside Palmers before inspecting the ship’s company at the Town Hall. This is followed by a civic reception.
It is the second time members of the crew have been invited to parade through their twinned town, which they view as a great honour.
In the meantime, members of the public are invited on board the ship itself at Deepwater Docks, Great Yarmouth from 10am-3.45pm on Sunday 10th February.
An ideal opportunity to have a look at one of the Royal Navy’s newest and most sophisticated ships, locals will have the chance to talk to members of the crew about life on board and the role of the modern navy in protecting the nation’s interests.
“This is a much anticipated visit to our adopted port,” explained Commander Adrian Fryer, Commanding Officer of HMS Dauntless .
“We are lucky enough to enjoy a great level of interest and support from our affiliated town and it is a real pleasure to be able to bring the ship home.
“I know that my ship’s company is looking forward to welcoming local people on board during the ship open to visitors and they are happy to chat about their jobs on board, what the ship has been doing and what life is like in today’s modern Royal Navy.
“And it is a true honour that we have been invited by the Borough Council to parade through the streets of Great Yarmouth. I hope that the town’s people will come out to line the route and greet their warship’s crew.”
HMS Dauntless, the second of the Type 45 destroyers, joined the Fleet in November 2010, shortly after being the first of class to fire the new Sea Viper missile.
Almost two years later, she returned to her home base of Portsmouth in October 2012 after her maiden deployment to the Atlantic, where she notched up 30,000 miles visiting 18 countries across four continents.
During a series of exercises Dauntless worked with 27 other navies and provided training for 600 foreign military personnel.
The ship also played host to almost 4,000 diplomatic guests on behalf of UK embassies and consulates in every port she visited.
[mappress] Naval Today Staff, January 30, 2013; Image: Royal Navy