Campbeltown sails for the last time

THERE is the very last chance to see HMS Campbeltown sail under the White Ensign this afternoon as the frigate returns to Plymouth to pay off.

The frigate is due to enter Plymouth Harbour around 2pm today, flying her decommissioning pennant and escorted by patrol boat HMS Raider.

As she passes the Royal Citadel fort on the Hoe she’ll exchange ceremonial formalities with the garrison, firing a gun salute.

It will be, says Cdr Keri Harris, Campbeltown’s final Commanding Officer, “an emotional day for all involved”

The plug was pulled on all four remaining Type 22 frigates last October under the Strategic Defence and Security Review; in  Campbeltown’s case, the ship was gearing up to head to the Indian Ocean on anti-piracy duties when news of her demise was announced.

Instead, she’s spent the final months of her active RN career around the UK helping to train pilots, navigators, submariners, cadets from Dartmouth and warfare officers.

The ship has also saved the lives of a family stranded in a broken-down motorboat which was being carried towards rocks on the Great Mew Stone off Plymouth, towing the craft to safety, while AB ‘Tab’ Hunter jumped into Falmouth Harbour during the ship’s last visit to save a young woman who’d fallen in.

The frigate visited the Cornish port to embark veterans of Operation Chariot – the legendary commando raid launched by Campbeltown’s forebear in March 1942; packed with explosives, the obsolete destroyer blew up the Normandie dry dock, rendering it useless to the German Navy.

Falmouth was the port of departure for ‘the greatest raid of all’ – and so it was again, as today’s Campbeltown sailed to St Nazaire for a weekend of Anglo-French commemorations – “a poignant curtain call for the ship”, said Cdr Harris.

His ship has already severed ties with the small Scottish town with which she shares a name, paying a final visit to Kintyre to thank residents for their long-standing support.

There was, said Cdr Harris, a “sense of loss” in the Scottish community at HMS Campbeltown’s premature demise. 

“A powerful bond has developed between us over the years, and so sailing from our affiliated town for the last time was a wrench,” said he added.

Today’s final entry to Devonport will be followed by the frigate’s formal act of decommissioning on April 7.

Source : http://www.navynews.co.uk