Royal Navy frigate HMS Kent returns home after 'playing cat and mouse' with world's 'finest submarines'

The Type 23 warship returned home today after carrying out exercises with Nato and supporting aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth during her F-35 trials last month.

Since leaving the UK in April, Kent and her crew have clocked up almost 19,000 nautical miles and taken part in four war games, from the Bay of Biscay to the Baltic Sea.

The veteran frigate also stopped off in three countries amid the height of the coronavirus pandemic and operated with four different task groups at sea.

Kent carried out stops in Gothenburg, Sweden, and Den Helder in the Netherlands for essential stores and fuel, followed by a visit to Reykjavik in Iceland, where the crew spent time ashore.

Engineering Technician (Weapons Engineering) Kieran Luke Ansell is part of the team looking after Kent’s communications and information systems.

The 20-year-old said: ‘This is my first deployment since joining up. I’ve really enjoyed being able to visit other countries and Iceland was just amazing.’

The focus for Kent’s spring and summer has been developing the entire ship’s skills as a submarine hunter, assisted throughout by a Merlin Mk2 helicopter from 814 Naval Air Squadron in Culdrose.

The helicopter flew 56 sorties, totalling 125 flying hours, carrying out anti-submarine operations, long-range surveillance of surface ships, airborne gunnery and intelligence collection.

‘Operating from Kent over the past two months has given us a great opportunity to play cat and mouse against some of the finest hunter-killer submarines in the world,’ said Merlin pilot Lieutenant Phil Fordham, aged 30.

‘At the same time we’ve proving the unparalleled capability of the ship and aircraft operating together to deliver an extremely potent anti-submarine warfare capability.’

For their last major engagement Kent was joined by sister frigate HMS Westminster, Trafalgar-class attack submarine HMS Trenchant and an RAF P8 Poseidon maritime patrol aircraft on exercise Dynamic Mongoose.

The two-week submarine hunt in the northern Atlantic involved five warships and five submarines drawn from Nato navies.

Kent’s next mission will see her joining HMS Queen Elizabeth’s carrier strike group later in the year, providing protection for the carrier’s maiden operational mission in 2021.

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