A waterfront of family pride today when loved ones waved goodbye to HMS Richmond spotted on our live webcam leaving the Sound – and its loud ship horns could be heard across the Hoe signalling goodbye in return.
The crew of HMS Richmond lined the deck in a spectacular tradition that goes back centuries.
The Plymouth based Duke-Class frigate was followed by Canadian warship HMCS Ville de Quebec that sailed from its base in Halifax across the Atlantic to join the British Strike Group on a 7 month deployment to the Indo-Pacific region.
The nuclear-powered submarine HMS Astute was also spotted leaving Devonport Dockyard over the Bank Holiday and speculated to be joining the #CSG25 with HMS Prince of Wales leaving Portsmouth today.
The UK Strike Group will also include HMS Dauntless, which was recently seen on FOST training in Plymouth waters together with Norwegian support and replenishment ship HNoMS Maud, RFA Tidespring that sailed down the coast from Portland, and Norwegian frigate Roald Amundsen and the Spanish frigate ESPS Mendez Nunez as the carrier group moves into the Mediterranean theatre.
A fully assigned tour of duty will see the #CSG25 work with NATO allies in European waters before moving onto the Indo-Pacific region with exercises with Japanese and Australian forces and returning to the UK in late December.
Westward Shipping News will be following the deployment over the next 7 months with news bytes of the UK Carrier Strike Group on our website.
