Sam, four-year-old grandson of Captain Brian Waters, was among the handful of relatives waiting on the quayside to celebrate RFA Orangeleaf's return to Portsmouth after service in the Gulf.

The man at the helm scooped him into his arms and carried him up the gangplank before sitting him in the captain's chair on the bridge and placing his cap on his head.

'It's his first time on board a ship and he's been dying to see what it's like,' said Capt Waters.

When RFA Orangeleaf nosed into Portsmouth Harbour yesterday only 21 relatives waited to greet her.

And on the Round Tower in Old Portsmouth the hordes of well-wishers who cheered home the aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal from the Gulf were replaced by a handful of curious onlookers.

But without Orangeleaf and her sister Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships Bayleaf and Brambleleaf – the often unsung heroines of Britain's maritime force – the Royal Navy would not have survived the second Gulf war.