Welcome Home! HMS Penzance And HMS Chiddingfold Families Reunited After Months At Sea

Families have been reunited as HMS Penzance and HMS Chiddingfold returned home after a deployment in the Gulf.

For HMS Penzance it was back to Faslane and for HMS Chiddingfold it was home to Portsmouth.

At Faslane, Petty Officer, Mark Titman, used the homecoming as an opportunity to ask a very important question when he proposed to Laura Campbell as the ship pulled into the dock... And she said yes!

Penzance and Chiddingfold departed eight months ago to join forces with the United States Mine Hunting vessels in major exercises in the Arabian Gulf, designed to test their skills when it comes to locating underwater explosives.

Working alongside HMS Bangor, HMS Daring and command ship RFA Lyme Bay, HMS Penzance and Chiddingfold helped clear an exercise minefield, making use of unmanned underwater vehicles, divers, helicopters and other specialist equipment in challenging conditions.

They are both Sandown Class Mine Counter Measures Vessel (MCMV).

Built of glass-reinforced plastic so as not to trigger magnetic mines, the Sandown Class has the latest mine hunting technology.

Each ship is also equipped with the Seafox mine disposal system - a mini submarine capable of diving down to examine and dispose of ordnance.

At any one time, the Royal Navy has four mine hunters working the Gulf, safeguarding the waterways for all shipping in the area.

HMS Blyth and Ledbury are now on tours of duty in the Gulf.

The ships provide a visible naval presence in the region where stability and good relations with local nations are vital.