HMS ARGYLL SAILS INTO PALMA TODAY

PALMA
THE Royal Navy Type 23 Frigate, HMS Argyll will today be slipping into the Port of Palma for a brief visit to the island.
Under the command of Commander Peter Olive MA, the frigate has been at sea since February 15 when she set sail from Devonport, Plymouth, on one of the Royal Navy's largest deployments in recent years, TAURUS 09.

As the first ship to depart on deployment, Argyll formed part of a large Multinational Task Group which included several Royal Navy warships, Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels and warships from both the French and US Navies.

TAURUS 09 is a routine deployment of the Royal Navy's Amphibious Task Group that takes in the Mediterranean, the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean and the Far East.

It aims to maintain the Royal Navy's fighting capability as well as develop the UK's capacity to operate with key partners and allies from NATO countries and other nations, enhancing interoperability and demonstrating the UK's commitment to the stability and security of those areas.

The Task Group has been conducting a wide range of activities, including maritime security operations, and exercising amphibious and anti-submarine warfare and the Argyll is now on Operational Stand Down before continuing exercises in the Mediterranean.

The third Royal Navy ship to bear the name, she is also the third of the Royal Navy's duke class frigates and was commissioned on 30 May 1991. She was built by Yarrow Shipbuilders in Glasgow to a revolutionary design with a superstructure shaped to minimise radar reflections and to make the ship as small as a fishing boat on the enemy's radar, and with engines so quiet as to be inaudible, HMS Argyll represents the latest in naval technology.

Powerful and versatile with the capability to operate anywhere in the world, the type 23 frigate is the mainstay of the modern surface fleet.
The 13 Type 23 frigates form half of the total frigate/destroyer force in the Royal Navy.
The Ship's Company is small, only 180 people although each one trained to be proficient in high-tech maritime warfare, whether controlling the engines or firing missiles.

The 4'900 tonne frigate is armed with two Quad Harpoon Missile launchers, a Vertical Launch Sea Wolf anti-missile system, a 4.5in (114mm) MK 8 gun, two 30mm close range guns and magazine launched anti-submarine torpedo tubes.

She is normally also armed with a MK 8 Lynx helicopter.
The Argyll and her crew are expected to spend a few days in Palma.