On a perfect autumn day HMS Dauntless ended her maiden deployment by returning to Portsmouth.
Some 1,000 family members and friends cheered the destroyer’s arrival – which was also greeted by a Typhoon flypast from the RAF.
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Pictures: LA(Phots) Keith Morgan and Claire Myers
IT’S been a perfect autumn day on the Solent – particularly perfect if you’re connected with HMS Dauntless which ended her maiden deployment today.
Two RAF Typhoons roared over Portsmouth Harbour to welcome the destroyer home – a roar almost as deafening as that generated by 1,000 cheering family members waiting to see the 8,500-tonne warship for the first time since the beginning of April.
Back then, the media talk was all Falklands, Falklands, Falklands – Dauntless departed 30 years after the islands were invaded.
And although her South Atlantic deployment took her to the remote islands, most of the seven months away was spent elsewhere.
Waves and cheers from the sizeable crowd gathered on Round Tower
Indeed, the Type 45 clocked up 30,000 miles visiting 18 countries across four continents, among them Portugal, the Cape Verde Islands, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria, Angola and South Africa.
After a short stint around the Falklands, it was up to the Caribbean for visits to Columbia and the USA and a final port of call in Boston, berthed next to the world’s oldest active warship afloat, USS Constitution.
“As Dauntless returns from her first operational deployment I am immensely proud of what my ship’s company has achieved,” said her Commanding Officer Capt Will Warrender.
“The first Type 45 deployment to the South Atlantic provided the setting for an exceptionally diverse deployment. It demonstrated what can be achieved over a wide area by one ship operating alone conducting a variety of operations and exercises.”
Are we there yet? A junior rating checks over the side from the quarterdeck as Dauntless approaches the jetty
For the last night aboard, the 200 or so souls aboard were treated to a concert by the British Forces Foundation, which puts on morale-boosting shows around the globe for all three Services.
In Dauntless’ case the entertainment was provided by comedians Jim Davidson and Bobby Davro, actress, singer and TV presenter Claire Sweeney and radio presenter/impressionist Mike Osman, flown out to meet the Type 45 by 771 Naval Air Squadron while the ship was off the Cornish coast yesterday.
The quartet were the final of almost 4,000 official guests hosted on board since D33 departed Portsmouth back in April.
Inviting those guests on behalf of UK embassies and consulates in every port she visited, plus the various conferences and industry showcases held on board, meant Dauntless had been a roving ambassador for the UK.
Capt Warrender added: “Dauntless has not only demonstrated the exceptional flexibility of a warship, but that a modern and highly sophisticated destroyer is much more than just a platform from which to fight.”
CPO Damain Hall (38) from Bolton is greeted by his wife and daughter on the Portsmouth quayside
Nineteen year-old AB(WS) Ryan Skipper, the youngest crew member – who was just 18 when Dauntless sailed and admitted he was “pretty lucky” to be drafted to the ship – said the seven months away had certainly lived up to expectations.
“Visiting so many different countries has been great. We have been to some superb places and done so many different sorts of things, it has just been one massive experience from start to finish,” the teenager said.
“For my first trip away I think I have been really lucky with this one, seeing the world is one of the things that we all want to do whilst we’re in the Navy, so seeing four continents in just one go has been brilliant.”
