Navy minesweeper set to return home

Aug 31 2012

Families and friends are to welcome home a Royal Navy minesweeper from a long mission in the Middle East.

HMS Pembroke will return to its home port of HM Naval Base Clyde, at Faslane, after three years in the Gulf.

Families will line the quayside to greet the sailors as they step ashore following a seven-and-a-half month deployment.

It will be a particularly emotional day for Deputy Marine Engineering Officer, Chief Petty Officer Jack, who left for deployment just two weeks after the birth of his daughter in January.

Different crews have manned the ship during its three-year operation ensuring safe passage for merchant and civilian ships in the Gulf. It also participated in training and exercises with US, French and Omani forces.

Work rarely stops for the crew of the ship and after leaving Bahrain five weeks ago it was deployed during its journey home to guard a merchant ship from the threat of piracy in the Gulf of Aden.

The ship, Delhi Express, had an engine failure in an area where pirates operate and put out a call for help. HMS Pembroke and sister ship HMS Middleton were in the area so readied their weapons and guarded the ship while engineers fixed its engine.

The 52-metre (170ft) long minesweeper is made of glass reinforced plastic to prevent it triggering mines and is expert at clearing the seaways so larger ships can pass safely. It is one of seven Sandown-class minehunters based in Scotland which use hi-tech equipment to detect, identify and neutralise any mines in merchant and civilian shipping areas.