Tamar uses Trafalgar Night to cement Royal Australian Navy friendship

Sydney Harbour provided the stunning setting for a memorable Trafalgar Night for patrol ship HMS Tamar.

The Governor-General of Australia, His Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley was the guest of honour alongside High Commissioner Vicki Treadell.

In view of Sydney Opera House, members of the Royal Marines Band Service performed, as the ship’s company hosted the dinner and celebrated the shared partnership between Australia and the United Kingdom.

Since arriving in the western Pacific at the beginning of 2022, Tamar and her sister ship HMS Spey have made extensive use of Australian hospitality, training opportunities and port/naval base facilities.

A Trafalgar Night dinner was the perfect way of saying ‘thank you’ said Commanding Officer Commander Teilo Elliot-Smith.

“It is excellent to bring our two Navies together to celebrate and commemorate here in Sydney Harbour. Trafalgar Night provides an opportunity for us to consider how the past can be mirrored on to our future operations.

“It is an honour to host the Head of State, His Excellency the Governor General, onboard Tamar alongside our colleagues from the British High Commission and the Royal Australian Navy.”

During the celebration, Commander Nick Doyle of the Royal Australian Navy was recognised. Commander Doyle has served across the Royal and Royal Australian Navies for more than 50 years and holds a special connection to HMS Tamar, having served as gunner officer on her predecessor in 1997.

HMS Tamar is in Australia to develop sea bed warfare techniques and capabilities alongside the Royal Australian Navy and United States Navy in an impending exercise.

The ship recently completed Operational Sea Training delivered by FOST in Cairns and will spend the remainder of the year conducting maritime security patrols and working alongside  island nations in the Pacific.