Type 23 Frigate HMS Northumberland has stopped in Dundee, Lerwick and Faslane recently.
https://twitter.com/HMSNORT/status/1340625621819527169
The Royal Navy stress that sailors have remained in a protective bubble to ensure the virus does not risk their operations.
“HMS Northumberland’s sailors are preparing for Christmas away from home as they continue on their vital mission to protect UK waters and the nation’s nuclear deterrent. The Type 23 frigate was last at her home port of Devonport in late September and since then has been part of the UK Carrier Strike group during landmark operations in the North Sea and monitored Russian activity close to UK waters during her relentless patrols around Britain.
In all, Northumberland has sailed more than 10,000 miles since leaving home but it doesn’t end there. The frigate and her ship’s company are preparing for a festive period away carrying out their vital duties in protecting the UK’s home waters, all with rigorous Covid-19 restrictions in place which ultimately mean nobody on board can go any further than the jetty when they come alongside between operations.”
Commanding Officer, Commander Thom Hobbs, said:
“This deployment has been incredibly challenging for my ship’s company given the stringent but necessary restrictions we follow due to the coronavirus. We follow them to ensure that the UK’s very high readiness frigate is always available, ready to respond at immediate notice to protect UK sensitive waters and the UK’s strategic deterrent.
Even in the face of these extraordinary challenges, my ship’s company has responded, remaining professional, adaptable and delivering in abundance. I am incredibly proud of what every sailor has achieved in these testing times.”
i wish them all a merry xmas and new year and thanks for being out there,looking after us..
Couldn’d agree more.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New to HMS Northumberland and all of the other service personnel and key workers this Christmas, especially in the light of the new strain of Covid!
Stay safe one and all.
Cheers CR
Absolutely, we’re all very lucky to have such a fantastic team of people looking out for our interests and keeping us safe.
+238
They’ll be threaders not getting their run’s ashore, poor buggers, must be pretty crap. Feel for them.
Best wishes to Northumberland’s ships company and their families.
Hope the crew of HMS Northumberland has a good Xmas and New Year, and thanks for the service. I know spent many Xmas’s on Guard duty and also sailed out of Dundee on Archer and Helmsdale. God was that a difficult dock to get into, sideswipped it once, bloody big dent in the side of Helmsdale.
Good luck, good hunting and again thanks.
You may know an old mate of mine then Ron, a killick RO called ‘Jabba’. Ring any bells ????
Rings a bell somewhere not sure where though. My gut feeling was in RNR basic training. I think he bollocked me for drill as this is the RN not the bloody army.
He was a Camperdown rating mate, LRO(G).
Now I know who you are speaking about. God that was a long time ago. How is he doing.
Not seen him for a while myself, sort of lost touch. Top guy though.
Bet it’s a throbbing deployment, no runs, Xmas away from home in the North sea/N Atlantic so close to the UK they can smell it/see it! Sod that. Fair play one and all, Merry Xmas to them and the family’s at home. I thought doing Xmas duties alongside were bad this sounds just plain carp.
These frigates look very similar in size/capabilities to the old U.S. Perry class. Too bad the Perry’s weren’t upgraded with VLS and improved radars, sonars. Would be more useful, reliable than the LCSs.
Very different purpose, as I understand it the Perry class was very much a cheap GP frigate, a true master of none type ship designed for lower threat tasking and convey work. The type 23 is a high end ASW platform.
They wont be the only ones at sea . The FF, LSD, and some of the MCMV force out here will be out and about. The OPS Room will be manned 24/7 in UKNSF.
Having been there and done that it sucks big time. Most people make the conscious decision to not even have a celebratory drink.
Hope the Phones, email and mail delivery are all working.
Stay safe Jack and Jenny wherever you are.
Yours aye,
Being away from home and doing crappy but important work is always hard. Just because it’s Christmas the world does not stop turning.
Outbreak of Covid onboard. Ship now home in port and crew self isolating from family and friends over the Christmas period. Keep safe shipmates. Bet morale is rock bottom on there, hope they have good routines and a good executive department. Hope there’s not too much ‘scrubbing’ out.