HMS St Albans returns home from Lebanon
18 Aug 06
HMS St Albans, which took part in the operation to evacuate British and other nationals from Beirut, returned home to Portsmouth today, Friday August 18 2006.
![Family and friends of the crew greet HMS St Albans as she returns to Portsmouth [Picture: Sam Bartlett]](GenerateThumbnail.aspx?imageURL=/NR/rdonlyres/37317BA1-B2E2-4BAA-9B48-C7E99F0A1372/0/stalbans3.JPG&maxSize=210)
Family and friends of the crew greet HMS St Albans as she returns to Portsmouth
[Picture: Sam Bartlett]
The ship has been deployed in the Gulf for six months as part of a diplomatic programme. She visited 16 countries, including Algeria, Albania, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey – and Lebanon, months before the current crisis began.
Throughout the six month deployment, St Albans, a Type 23 frigate, the newest of her class, sailed a total of 32,000 nautical miles, the equivalent of one and a half times around the world. She travelled from sub zero temperatures in the Black Sea during winter to conduct vital maritime security tasks in the extreme heat of summer in the Arabian Gulf.
The principal tasks in the Gulf included conducting security patrols to combat maritime crime, promoting stability in the region and also playing an essential part in protecting Iraq’s oil platforms at the very head of the northern Gulf.
It was a very different Beirut St Albans sailed into for a second time, having been diverted from her Gulf duties, to pluck 243 people from the bombarded city to eventual safety in Cyprus.
Commanding Officer Steve Dainton said today:
"It has been a tremendously demanding but an ultimately satisfying six months, during which we have experienced a whole range of contrasting challenges. Throughout I have been consistently impressed by the resilience, ability and sheer determination of my sailors. Our involvement with the evacuation demonstrated just that and showed that a warship is a remarkably versatile platform.
"I am very proud of what HMS St Albans and her people have achieved in the past six months, and for me it has been the most rewarding six months of my career in the Royal Navy."
HMS ST Albans - Facts and Figures
- Commissioned: June, 2002
- Complement: 194 officers and men
- Displacement: 4,500 tonnes
- Length: 133 metres
- Armament: Harpoon missiles, Vertically launched Sea Wolf surface-to-air missiles, Stingray torpedoes, 4.5in Mk 8 gun and 30mm cannons
- Aircraft: Lynx Mk 8 helicopter capable of delivering Sea Skua anti-ship missiles and Stingray torpedoes.