The Royal Navy assault ship, HMS Albion, set sail from Santander in northern Spain for the UK at midday UK time on Tuesday 20 April 2010.
The ship, arriving alongside in Santander, had been met by a grateful contingent of troops, who had spent much of the night travelling from Zaragoza Airport, after having finished their six-month deployment to Afghanistan, in order to get to the only route home to their families and friends.
Once the military personnel were embarked, a group of the most vulnerable stranded British citizens were welcomed on board by HMS Albion's crew of sailors and Royal Marines.
This was no small task; the provision of hundreds of extra spaces for sleeping and the associated additional meals required was testing for the ship. However, this was actually a role that she is used for, albeit on a smaller scale, as the ship is purpose-designed to support embarked troops when in an operational environment.
On this occasion, the ship was not carrying her full complement of landing craft, which meant that the extra space could be used for accommodating some of the personnel embarked at Santander.
The ship's Executive Officer, Commander John Gardner, said:
"We have spent the past six months training for whatever operations might come our way, and the ship is well prepared for just this eventuality.
"We are delighted to be returning the soldiers, airmen and medics, who have endured an arduous past six months, to their families. That we can support the repatriation of those stranded abroad as well is a bonus."
See the Gallery at Related Links for more images of HMS Albion and her crew helping with the return of troops and civilians to the UK.