HMS Montrose put through her paces

The Royal Navy frigate HMS Montrose went to anchor in Plymouth Sound after an exhaustive weekend of training.

Having sailed from Devonport on Friday 7th July for the first time since 2014, the ship’s crew where put through a whole host of rigorous tests and conduct training to prove that the ship and the personnel onboard were able to start the next stage of her return to the Fleet. 

Between sailing at 4pm on Friday and dropping anchor at 7pm on Sunday the has conducted, 3 man overboard drills, a galley fire exercise, an engine room fire exercise, 2 sets of switchboard drills, 2 sets of machinery breakdown drills, a fire exercise in the middle of the night and a couple of flood exercises. 

As well as these the ship conducted a test firing of its small calibre guns firing 8000 rounds of ammunition.  

The whole of the ship’s crew are adjusting to getting back to life afloat, with many junior sailors going to sea for the first time, eager to start their careers. 

They included Engineering Technician Harry Thomas, who celebrated his 21st birthday onboard at the end of training with a cake on the flight deck. 

The Commanding Officer of HMS Montrose, Cdr Conor O’Neill said “It has been a testing weekend in every sense, but the Ship’s Company have risen to the challenge and proved that they are ready and eager to master the challenges of operating a complex warship.”

This weekend was the first three days of a 12 week programme in which the ship’s equipment and personnel will be tested in order to prove that they are ready to rejoin the rest of the Fleet later in the year.

It comes after a £36 million pound refit, coordinated by Babcock Marine, in which the ship received the new Sea Ceptor missile system as well as numerous other upgrades, to keep her at the cutting edge of technology for the next 15 years.