Royal Navy frigate sails into London for five-day visit

Royal Navy warship HMS Kent has sailed up the Thames for her second visit to London this year.

The Portsmouth-based Type 23 frigate has returned to the capital for a five-day engagement visit, where she will be showcasing the capability of the Royal Navy to a range of invited guests and affiliates.

The visit is Kent’s second this year, having also been alongside in the capital in May prior to commemorations for the 100^th anniversary of the Battle of Jutland.

“We had a hugely successful visit to London in May this year and I’m immensely proud to be back here so soon,” said Commander Daniel Thomas, HMS Kent’s Commanding Officer.

"It will be another brief but busy stop for us, as we welcome a number of affiliates, guests and dignitaries to HMS Kent. We look forward to demonstrating how the Royal Navy delivers the diverse range of tasks that are asked of it.”

Guests on board over the next few days will be given a taste of what HMS Kent is capable of, from high end warfighting to disaster relief, defence diplomacy and maritime security operations.

HMS Kent and her ship’s company know only too well just how diverse those tasks can be. The frigate returned to the UK in May last year after completing a seven-month deployment to the Gulf on maritime security operations.

There she was charged with helping to keep some of the world’s busiest shipping lanes free from the threat of piracy and terrorism, as well as supporting US and French aircraft carrier battle groups.

Since her return from the Gulf, HMS Kent has been busy on a UK and Europe programme – the highlights of which have been port visits to Rotterdam and Dover.

The ship also completed a long period of sea training which finished in March this year.

Kent will continue with her programme of port visits for the rest of 2016 prior to entering a long period of maintenance at the end of the year.