Type 45 Destroyer HMS Duncan has been protecting a US Navy task group in the Eastern Mediterranean as part of a regional security mission, according to a press release.
The Portsmouth-based warship deployed at the end of May and, after intensive training and a short stop in Cyprus, linked up with two US Navy task forces – the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower’s Carrier Strike Group and USS Wasp’s Amphibious Ready Group.
“I am proud of what my ship’s company have achieved in such an extremely short period,” said Commanding Officer, Commander Dan Lee in the news release.
“As a team they rose to the challenge and with FOST support achieved the extremely high standards required to ensure we are ready for anything asked of us.”
Duncan joined the USS Wasp’s task group in early July, soon after the vessel demonstrated her capabilities during an air defence exercise, which saw the Type 45 fight off attacks from Harrier jets from USS Wasp.
This all comes during a busy time for Duncan, which underwent weapons training and a FOST training package, which included responding to floods and fires in increasingly complex scenarios, after leaving Portsmouth on May 27.
It resulted in the sailors successfully navigating an exercise involving multiple incidents a week after deploying, as highlighted in the news release.
A short stop in Gibraltar followed for a visit to some familiar, and, for some on their first overseas visit, less familiar haunts, including Casemates Square and seeing the infamous apes during the even more infamous Rock Run – a race at first light from the dockyard to the top of the mountain which dominates the Overseas Territory. Next up was a training package that saw Duncan conduct a Thursday War – a war-fighting and damage control exercise, which puts previous training into practice.
This phase required 50 per cent of the ship’s company working around the clock 24/7, providing increased readiness of workforce and equipment. During this period there were several gunnery shoots, firing all surface weapon systems multiple times – day and night – developing engineers’ skills and operators’ edge.
This six-day training period ended in a final assessed exercise, with Duncan proving her ability to fight at the same time as dealing with multiple incidents on board. The ship then visited Souda Bay, Crete, for stores replenishment, a weapon and sensor trials period, and phase three training period and boarding accreditation; assessing the Royal Navy and Royal Marines boarding teams’ ability to cope with different boarding situations.
Since completing this intense training period, alongside normal maintenance and training routines, the ship’s company have enjoyed a hands-to-bathe in the Mediterranean Sea and a short port visit to Limassol, Cyprus. Duncan has most recently been in Catania, Italy, according to the press release.