Royal Navy type 23 frigate HMS Richmond is pictured during an exercise.

HMS Richmond is among the most tried and tested in the Fleet, having pounded Saddam Hussein’s defences on the Al Faw peninsula in the opening hours of the 2003 Iraq campaign, to providing vital aid in the Caribbean after Hurricane Ivan – the tenth strongest storm in history – steamrollered through a succession of islands in 2004.

HMS Richmond has had a busy year so far.

Setting sail in early February following a brief maintenance period in Portsmouth, the Ship’s Company put trainee submariners through their paces off the west coast of Norway whilst taking part in the gruelling multi-national Submarine Command Course.

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