Watch: Royal Navy warship HMS Richmond sails from Portsmouth with "proud" well-wishers seeing her leave

HMS Richmond sailed past The Round Tower in Old Portsmouth this morning just after 10pm. Well-wishers gathered to wave goodbye to the crew on board. The Type 23 frigate, based in Plymouth, arrived in Portsmouth last Thursday. The family of sailor Peter Jarvie came to see him and the ship leave for future operations.

His mum Stacey McKnight, of Southsea, said it was brilliant for him to be back home. She told The News: “It was really lovely. He came back to surprise us on his dad’s birthday and was with us for a few days. He caught up with some friends and we had a family meal together. We're in touch with some sometimes, but not always. We’ve missed him an awful lot. I cry every time we say goodbye and he leaves.”

Lily McKnight, of Paulsgrove - holding Peter’s cousin Teddy Dorsett aged seven months - added: “It has been really amazing to see him home. We all celebrated with a takeaway and a night in. You try and make the most of it when he’s here. We’re so proud that he’s in the Royal Navy.”

Peter’s brother, Liam Jarvie, said it was great to spend time with him again. “We went to London to see a Noel Gallagher concert,” he said. “It was a great experience. He’s not as lazy as he was before he joined the Navy.” Lily said Peter was on his first deployment, so it will be more special in the future to see him as he spends more time away from home.

Stacey couldn’t be happier for his son. “He’s in the boxing team, and won a match in Fiji,” she added. “From September, he might get taken off ship for a little while to concentrate on his boxing. He seems to have really grown up in the force and he has progressed so well. The decision to join came out of nowhere and he said he wanted to do something different.”

HMS Richmond returned to Plymouth in March following a lengthy deployment where she protected merchant ships from Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen. She spent six weeks in the line of fire around the Bab-al-Mandeb Strait and Gulf of Aden.

Her Sea Ceptor missiles were fired once to shoot down a large swarm of drones. Rebels launched 57 missiles and drones from various sites in Yemen on March 9. Since sailing from Devonport in January, the warship has travelled over 22,000 nautical miles. She stopped in the Indian Ocean, Malta and Gibraltar on her way back to Plymouth. The frigate has spent the past few months around the UK. The Royal Navy said her Portsmouth visit was part of routine tasking.