The Royal Navy warship HMS Scott returned to Plymouth for the first time since June last year to a warm welcome from families and friends.
As the Royal Navy’s only deep-water survey vessel she has been deployed worldwide for nine months after successfully completing an extensive refit last summer.
The ship returned to HM Naval Base, Devonport, with family and friends embarked temporarily as they sailed through Plymouth Sound Breakwater, with many more waiting on the dockside to come on-board waving and cheering their loved ones.
The captain of HMS Scott Commander Karen Dalton-Fyfe said: “It’s great to get home after a really successful period away.
“My guys have worked incredibly hard over the last nine months and can be extremely proud of all that we have achieved.’’
Those guests already embarked enjoyed 24 hours at sea and an opportunity to get a first-hand look at how the sailors live and work on board.
All had the chance to see a number of demonstrations including fire-fighting, leak-plugging and even a crash-course on how to use weapons o-board.
Seaman Specialist Marcus ‘Manny’ Mannion, 24, on his first deployment with the Royal Navy said: “It was great to sail into my home town.
“All my family were waving from Devil’s Point as we came in with a giant ‘Minion’ character balloon as a tribute to my nickname in training.
“I joined Scott straight from training which was quite daunting at first but it’s great to be doing a job where you feel like you're making a difference and contributing especially so early in my career.’’
HMS Scott has been conducting survey operations all over the North Atlantic and Mediterranean mapping an area equivalent to that of the UK. This involved steaming over 42,000 - miles the equivalent of going round the world one and three quarter times.
Over the whole deployment the crew ate three and a half tonnes of potatoes and enough bacon that if it was laid end on end would stretch 2.3km.
HMS Scott will now spend a short period in Plymouth undertaking maintenance after enjoying some well-earned time with their families. She sails again in the summer to continue surveying work and continued support to the UK’s security at home and abroad.
The ship is fitted with a modern multi-beam sonar suite which permits mapping of the ocean floor worldwide.
The sailors of HMS Scott’s survey department collect and process of navigational and deep-sea data from a strip of sea bed several kilometres wide - 150km2 of ocean floor every hour.
The final data is transformed into charts and sent to the UK Hydrographic Office in Taunton.
The crew operates a crew rotation system, in which 56 personnel are embarked for survey operations at any one time.
This allows HMS Scott to be operationally available most of the year, providing environmental information to the Royal Navy enabling and supporting UK defence interests around the world through access to surveyed shipping areas.
