"I'm a Portchester Royal Navy sailor and can't believe I met up with my RAF pilot brother on a major mission"

Andrew and Alex Warry joined forces for a security mission in the Middle East as part of Operation Kipion. HMS Lancaster has been deployed off the coast of Bahrain for a number of years.

Andrew, 30, has been serving on the Type 23 Duke-class frigate as a Petty Officer and an operations room specialist for nearly two and a half years. With his brother Alex being an RAF Corporal, the siblings have only briefly crossed professional paths before - until now.

The senior rate said: “My brother wasn’t a keen advocate of the idea on being on a ship. e and my father attended a lot of air shows which led to his interest in aircraft and resulted in him taking the easy way out and joining the RAF.”

The RAF supports two long-running operations in the Middle East. Operation Kipion, a maritime security and stability mission east of the Suez Canal, and Operation Shader, where airstrikes are targeted against Islamist terrorist groups including ISIS, Daish and Islamic State.

PO Warry was tasked to collect vital supplies for the ship, which gave him a chance to catch up with Alex and talk Pompey - the pair being season ticket holders alongside their dad and uncle. The Warrys might have met on deployment before when Andy was serving in Gibraltar, but Covid-19 restrictions prevented a proper reunion when Alex flew in on an A400 transport plane.

The Cams Hill School pupils were drawn to life in the military by their late grandad, who served in the Royal Navy from the age of 19 - the same age that PO Warry began his training. He now has 12 years of service under his belt, a third of them aboard HMS Lancaster.

He is hoping for tremendous success during his last stint with the frigate, after previous triumphs including various drugs busts and patrols to protect merchant vessels in the Red Sea. Alex, 23, joined the RAF in 2021 and was assigned to the Atlas Force Operations after spending two years at Brize Norton.

His A400 missions have taken him around the world to Norway, Cyprus, USA and elsewhere. Alex’s American adventure allowed him to display the British aircraft at the US Marine Corps airbase at Miramar. His brother Andrew has visited more than 20 countries during his Royal Navy career, acted as a tour guide on HMS Victory and taught sailors to ski at the Navy’s outdoor activity centre in Bavaria.