WHAT sight ismore stirring than a warship returning home to cheering well-wishers, after months of adventureandajobwelldone?

This was the scene as HMS Ledbury finally arrived back at Portsmouth on Friday following a threemonth deployment in the Mediterranean and Red Sea.

She formed part of the Standing NATO Mine Countermeasures Group 2, working extensively with NATO partners from Germany, Italy, Turkey and Albania as well as non-NATO nations including Israel and Jordan.

HMS Ledbury – one of eight Hunt Class mine hunters of the Second Mine Counter Measures Squadron – will undergo a period of maintenance in Portsmouth before it embarks on work with its NATO allies in the Baltic Sea later this year.