Nov 30 – HMS Lancaster Visits The Rock
Type 23 frigate, HMS Lancaster called into Gibraltar this weekend to top up on fuel and supplies.
HMS Lancaster has recently completed a nine-month deployment to the South Atlantic where she conducted Atlantic Patrol Tasking.
During the deployment she sailed over 30,000 nautical miles and made over 23 port visits to 18 countries.
A port call to Ghana in October gave the ships company the opportunity to conduct a joint training session with the Ghana Armed Forces and to re-decorate a newly built school in Tema.
Community engagement continued when HMS Lancaster called into Togo for a four-day visit in early November. Fifteen personnel from the ship visited an orphanage in Lome to redecorate and brighten up the home. It was a rewarding task as Midshipman Stephen Fotherby explains:
“Helping those who find themselves in less fortunate circumstances than our own, through no fault of their own, was humbling and enlightening. They smile and laugh whilst living in the toughest of circumstances.”
HMS Lancaster is the first ship to deploy with the Royal Navy’s newest helicopter, the Wildcat. Like its predecessor, the Lynx, the Wildcat can be used in a variety of roles including anti-ship and anti-submarine protection, casualty evacuation, battlefield reconnaissance and as a general utility helicopter.
Pic: LET (WE) Stephens painting the orphanage with a little help from one of the resident children.
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