Britain´s best bound for port of Palma

Some of the finest British merchant ships and one of the most modern vessels in the Royal Navy will be visiting the port of Palma over the next few months. The first ship on the horizon is the warship Montrose a Type 23 frigate which was accepted into service in 1995. She has a displacement of 3'500 tons, and is armed with Harpoon surface-to-surface missiles, Seawolf surface-to-air missiles and a 4.5 inch gun. The Type 23 frigate forms the back-bone of the Royal Navy's surface fleet. She will be visiting Palma between March 16 and 20 along with other vessels of the Standing Naval Force Mediterranean, a NATO group of vessels. A visit by the Type 22 frigate Chatham to Minorca this Easter has been cancelled. The Montrose has a crew of 157 men and women who will be looking forward to enoying some leave in Palma. On the merchant navy front Palma will be visited by most of the P&O fleet including their new flagship Aurora, which is still being built. The Aurora has a displacement of 76'000 and she will be officially named by the Princess Royal at Southampton on April 27. Her visit to Palma, the first of three this year, is scheduled for August. Her sister ships, Oriana and Arcadia will all be making port visits sometime this summer.