Royal Navy reveals why ocean survey ship HMS Scott visited Portsmouth
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HMS Scott – the fifth largest ship in the navy’s fleet – cruised into the city on Saturday afternoon in a rare visit to the home of the Senior Service.
The trip is expected to be the final time Portsmouth will see the ship before she is decommissioned in 2022. It was her first visit to the city since November 2011.
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Hide AdScott’s arrival is primarily to restock food and supplies following a record-breaking mission in the Atlantic. But her time in Portsmouth will also allow for a change over in crews.
While here, she will be visited by Vice Admiral Jerry Kyd – the first commanding officer of HMS Queen Elizabeth and current fleet commander – as well as a number of other naval VIPs.
A number of the crew will also be handed out some well-deserved awards for their efforts serving on Scott.
Warrant Officer Andy Rowbotham will be presented a Meritorious Service Medal for his work in support of the engineering branch.
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Hide AdWhile Lieutenant Charlotte Eddy will scoop the accolade of top-performing student on the Fleet Navigating Officers’ course earlier this year.
Commander James Baker, Scott’s skipper, said: ‘It’s a pleasure to be back in Portsmouth after such a long time and to reflect on a busy but successful summer at sea.
‘Scott has had an extremely successful season in the north Atlantic gathering an unprecedented volume of bathymetric survey data.
‘As ever, success is built on a team effort, and I could not be prouder of my ship’s company who have worked their socks off to deliver this operational task, despite significant programme changes. The weather has also been unseasonably rough at times, but I’m pleased to say we have made excellent progress.’
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Hide AdThe Plymouth-based vessel spent the summer scanning the ocean floor of the north Atlantic over an area roughly the size of Austria using her sophisticated array of sensors.
She is usually tasked to chart the seafloor overseas to aid the safe navigation for all seafarers around the world.
Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic Scott has continued her operational tasking but using UK rather than overseas ports to rotate her crew every six weeks.
The ship and her company have had a successful summer, including one six-week patrol on which she collected more data than in any previous stint at sea during her 23-year career.