Royal Navy frigate HMS Monmouth returned to Plymouth on December 1, concluding a nine-month deployment.
Since leaving Devonport in March, the ship has travelled over 40,000 miles through the North Atlantic, Mediterranean, Indian Ocean and wider Middle East regions.
While on counter-narcotics patrols HMS Monmouth successfully seized three-quarters of a tonne of heroin and hashish with an estimated street value of £65m; thus disrupting the flow of these drugs to the UK and Europe. The crew also assisted in the rescue of a sailor from a tanker which sunk in the Indian Ocean.
“This has been a challenging and hugely varied deployment that has tested my ship and her company. Despite encountering temperatures nearing 50 degrees in the Gulf, my team have continued to deliver all that was asked of them,” Monmouth’s captain, Cdr Ian Feasey, said.
The crew will now proceed on an extended period of leave until the new year before undergoing an extensive maintenance period in her home port to ensure she is ready to return to sea later in 2018.