HMS Duncan sailed in March for a six-month deployment.
Earlier in the month, the Type 45 provided area air defence to the French aircraft carrier FS Charles de Gaulle as part of their Carrier Strike Group deployment.
According to a Royal Navy news release:
“HMS Duncan’s time with the French carrier will offer the Royal Navy ship crucial training in task group operations and aid the preparations for HMS Queen Elizabeth’s first operational deployment in 2021.”
Having left Portsmouth in March, Duncan enjoyed a brief visit to Gibraltar and then Cyprus, before heading out into the Mediterranean Sea.
Lieutenant Commander Ellen Laird, the ship’s Logistics Officer, was quoted as saying:
“Getting the ship prepared for operations is a team game and it’s been impressive seeing everyone pull together to be ready to deploy after only a short time since our NATO deployment last year. Our first month has been busy working with the French aircraft carrier, performing the ship’s central role as an air defence destroyer.
With HMS Queen Elizabeth’s maiden deployment in the not-too-distant future, it was the perfect opportunity to rehearse how we work in a task group.”
Do other countries navies also patrol the Med? Escorting the De Gaul is part of a NATO deployment but for the rest of the patrol, is it controversial like the South China seas deployments where China punished us by not meeting our Chancellor for trade deals?
Yes
No
It only gets controversial if patrols get too close to Israel’s coast, I think!
israel is nothing to do with us, best to stay well clear of the whole region
Punished us for wanting to patrol in international waters!