Royal Navy frigate to engage Scotland public

Royal Navy frigate HMS Somerset will sail up the Clyde river in Scotland this weekend for a period of local engagement, the Royal Navy said.

The Clyde-built Warship, one of thirteen Type 23 Duke-class frigates in service with the Royal Navy, arrives in Govan’s King George V Dock late on Friday evening and will welcome a range of visitors on board during her stay.

On her voyage up the Clyde, HMS Somerset will pass the BAE Systems shipyard at Scotstoun where she was built 22 years ago. The Scotstoun yard remains central to the United Kingdom’s warship construction programme and is where, in conjunction with BAE Systems at Govan, the next generation of Royal Navy Warships, the Type 26 and Type 31 frigates, are to be constructed.

This will be HMS Somerset’s third visit to a Scottish port this summer having already spent some time alongside in Lerwick in June before visiting Edinburgh at the start of August.

Together with the Type 45 destroyers, the Type 23 frigates are the core of today’s front-line fleet. In addition to operating in European waters, they can be typically be found east of Suez safeguarding Britain’s vital maritime trade routes or protecting Britain’s interests in the South Atlantic.

In April 2015, HMS Somerset, along with Border Force cutter Valiant, was responsible for the capture of the biggest seizure of cocaine in UK history. Three tonnes of the Class A drug, worth £500m were discovered inside the ship MV Hamal about 100 miles off the coast of Aberdeen.

HMS Somerset will depart Glasgow on Tuesday evening.