Royal Navy’s amphibious assault ship HMS Ocean visited the Egyptian port of Alexandria last weekend, thereby becoming the first UK warship to visit Egypt in over eight years.
HMS Ocean visited Egypt as part of Joint Expeditionary Force (Maritime) 16 and will carry out exercises with partner nations in the Mediterranean Sea and waters off Middle East before it assumes its role in the fight against ISIS at the end of the year.
Naval manoeuvres were conducted off the coast with the Egyptian Naval Ship Tahya Misr and both HMS Ocean and HMS Bulwark from the Task Group.
Captain Rob Pedre , Captain of HMS Ocean, said: “It is a great honour and privilege to bring my ship and Ship’s company to Alexandria and I am extremely grateful for the warm welcome we have received.”
“HMS Ocean’s visit highlights the closeness of the relationship between the Royal Navy and the Egyptian Navy and our continued desire to cooperate in the maritime domain,” Pedre continued.
The Joint Expeditionary Force (Maritime) 16 deployment is aimed at demonstrating the UK’s ability to deploy effective and combat-capable maritime forces anywhere in the world.
During the deployment, exercises in Mediterranean and further afield into the Indian Ocean and Arabian Gulf, will ensure the task group’s readiness for contingent operations, and provide opportunities to develop relationships with NATO allies and other partner nations.