Heading out for 2024, HMS Richmond sets sail

HMS Richmond and her crew have set sail from Devonport, heading out for the first time in 2024.

The Royal Navy's Type 23 frigate is embarking on her first operational deployment of the new year.

One of Britain's busiest and most versatile warships, she had been in the Baltic Sea before Christmas with the Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF) to "ensure stability and deter threats to critical undersea cables, pipelines and other assets".

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Last month, HMS Richmond also welcomed a new commanding officer with Commander Chris L'Amie handing over to Commander Rich Kemp.

HMS Richmond was designed to hunt submarines but, since the end of the Cold War, the role of the frigate within the Royal Navy has become more varied, making them the "core of the frontline fleet", according to the service.

The Royal Navy said: "In travelling the world protecting our nation's interests, HMS Richmond undertakes virtually every type of operation imaginable, from counter-narcotics and anti-piracy to disrupting people trafficking and detaining criminals."

HMS Richmond is a Type 23 Duke Class frigate serving in the Royal Navy, the seventh ship to bear the name in the Senior Service, with the first HMS Richmond named in 1660.

Based at HMNB Devonport in Plymouth, she can carry 185 personnel more than 7,800 miles, with a top speed of 28 knots or more.