Royal Navy frigate HMS St Albans hones her night-shooting skills during war test at sea

The sailors from HMS St Albans took the opportunity to hone their ‘quickdraw’ skills – the response of gunners to defend the warship from incoming fast-attack craft – while on patrol.

Using a range of high-powered miniguns – six-barrelled weapons able to spew out up to 2,000 rounds a minutes – machine-guns, rifles, flares and night vision goggles, crews shot mock targets in the sea.

By day, the 190 sailors on board have been kept on their toes by practising winching people aboard from her helicopter.

The Saint, as the frigate is affectionately known by the ship’s company, is the UK’s very-high readiness warship.

Last year she spent almost 250 days away from her home port in Portsmouth.