Red Plum comes home
With the Spinnaker Tower watching over her as she travelled through The Solent, HMS Endurance ended her transatlantic journey.
The navy's flood-damaged Antarctic patrol ship made her way past containers and the Palmerston forts to her berthing point off Gosport yesterday afternoon.
Flying with a pilot from Phoenix Aviation, The News also captured dramatic aerial shots of the Portsmouth-based ship as she approached the east of the Isle of Wight.
Dozens of wellwishers gathered at the seafront to see the Red Plum, so nicknamed because of her distinctive hull, make her way on the back of the heavy lift ship MV Target.
John Bennett, 65, a retired teacher from Lee-on-the-Solent, said: 'It was amazing to see such a large ship come in propped up on the back of another one.
'We have been quite lucky to see the USS Theodore Roosevelt over the weekend and now we see this arrive.'
The American carrier left with her 5,000-strong ship's company during the late morning, to be replaced on the horizon by MV Target about 3pm.
The navy has yet to confirm when Endurance will be floated from the ship and towed into Portsmouth Naval Base.
A navy spokesman said: 'We have to make sure that the sea conditions are right to tow her safely into the base. It could be Friday or Saturday at this stage.'
As reported in The News, the crew of Endurance fought to stop a deluge of floodwater that crippled the ship's engine room on December 16.
The navy has remained tight-lipped about the cause of the flood, but it is understood that a filter came loose and allowed the cold water to flow in.
The navy announced that it intends to repair the ship, but to date no contract has been placed until further assessments are carried out.
Captain Gavin Pritchard, commanding officer of Endurance, said: 'My ship's company responded to the incident with an aggressive and continuous attack on the flood, for which I am very proud of them.'
DELUGE OF FLOOD WATER PUMPED OUT
HMS Endurance was in the Strait of Magellan off the coast of Chile when she suffered a flood on December 16, 2008.
She was towed to the Chilean port of Punta Arenas where crew members were able to call home and the hundreds of tons of floodwater was pumped out.
She was then towed to the Falkland Islands and, after the navy considered scrapping her, the decision was made to bring her back to Portsmouth.
The cost of returning and repairing the ship has not been revealed by the navy but is currently less than the 39m spent on the destroyer HMS Nottingham.
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Weather for Portsmouth
Saturday 26 May 2012
Today
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Temperature: 13 C to 24 C
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