A small fleet of Royal Navy P2000 ships has just completed phase one of their summer deployment to the Baltic.
The four vessels – Her Majesty’s Ships Biter, Explorer, Pursuer and Trumpeter – left Portsmouth in mid June and travelled north on their annual deployment carrying up to 10 students each from their affiliated universities.
The deployment is broken into four phases with each student given the chance to experience two weeks of life at sea.
During their first two weeks the four University Royal Navy Unit (URNU) students received training in three countries – Belgium, Netherlands and Germany – out of the 10 that will be visited during the summer.
The four units arrived in Kiel, Germany, towards the end of Kiel week, a world renowned event for navies from across the world who regularly send warships as representatives for their nations.
That final stage of the first phase gave the students and ship’s company some much deserved down time yet they still managed to play their part attending the Command Handover of Standing NATO Maritime Group 2 on-board USS Vicksburg.
Kiel was also the setting for the first student change over when the 10 students left their ship and replaced by another 10 from each of the affiliated universities.
The four vessels have now begun phase two and by the time the summer deployment is over more than 200 students will have experienced sea time on all four ships.
Image: Royal Navy