RFA Argus makes port visit to Cape Town as UK amphibious task group heads home

RFA Argus has arrived in Cape Town as she sails around the Cape of Good Hope, avoiding the Red Sea, on her journey home.

Her fellow Royal Fleet Auxiliary support ship Lyme Bay is now in Male, the capital of the Maldives.

Both ships had been deployed to the Indian Ocean and Pacific as Littoral Response Group (South) – a UK amphibious task group designed to react to crises east of the Suez Canal.

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In August, the pair were a crucial launchpad for Commando operations during a major exercise in Australia's Northern Territory.

Exercise Predators Run saw the LRG(S) operate alongside personnel from Australia, the United States and the Philippines.

Lyme Bay was the main launchpad for amphibious operations – deploying craft of all shapes and sizes from ship to shore to land Commando teams raiding inland and vehicles, including the lightweight MRZR and armoured Viking All-Terrain Vehicles.

Meanwhile, 845 Naval Air Squadron used Argus as their base to support the Royal Marines on a desert and bush exercise.

In March, the UK support ships were escorted through the Suez Canal and the Red Sea by HMS Diamond and two US destroyers.

They required adequate protection on the route, which is being shunned by many shipping companies, due to the risk of attacks by Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen.