On its way back from the Norwegian-hosted exercise Cold Response, Royal Navy’s Type 23 frigate HMS Iron Duke visited Oslo, Norway.
The Portsmouth-based ship hosted the British ambassador and was welcoming the public on board during the weekend.
HMS Iron Duke was berthed outboard of ESPS Cantabria for the visit.
The exercise from which the ship has returned, Cold Response, is held annually by the Norwegian Navy and includes air, land and sea units with approximately 15,000 Service personnel.
Iron Duke’s sister ship HMS Sutherland also took part with the two ships meeting up in Trondheim before the exercise started.
Cold Response is a predominantly amphibious exercise where the ships work with ground troops to ensure NATO partners can work together effectively to respond quickly to national and international crises.
Rear Admiral Jose Enrique Delgado , Commander SNMG1, said: “This outstanding exercise provided a unique opportunity to enhance Standing NATO Maritime Group 1 (SNMG1) units’ interoperability, sustainability and cooperation within the framework of a multinational joint force structure.”
For HMS Iron Duke’s Operations Officer, Lieutenant Commander David Berry , the exercise was a great way to demonstrate how well the SNMG1 Task Group was working together.
“We were given the privilege to lead the Task Group as the surface and anti submarine warfare commander which was a great challenge, but the true value of the exercise was demonstrating the multi national effort and improving the Task Group’s operational efficiency”, he said.