PORTSMOUTH-based warship HMS Iron Duke returns home on February 23 after a six-months and 30,000 nautical miles at sea as the Royal Navy's Atlantic Patrol Ship (South).

While she was away the Iron Duke supported British and United Nations interests in West Africa and the South Atlantic and enjoyed a number of exotic port visits.

When HMS Iron Duke was on route to West Africa she visited Arrecife in Lanzarotte before patrolling the waters off Sierra Leone in support of the UK and UN mission in the country, stopping for logistics breaks at Tema in Ghana and Dakar in Senegal.

In November and early December, HMS Iron Duke was relieved by the Type 42 destroyer HMS Liverpool, allowing her to call at the Falkland Islands and Valparaiso in Chile for a high-profile diplomatic visit, the first by a British warship since the Pinochet affair.

The visit followed a 6,000-mile passage across the South Atlantic and the ship embarked the Navy's highest ranking sea-going officer, Commander UK Task Group, Rear Admiral Stephen Meyer.

The visit was a huge success, attracting numerous senior Chilean Government and military figures, and it did much to re-establish good diplomatic relations with Chile, traditionally one of the UK's closest allies.

The visit gave HMS Iron Duke the opportunity to make passage through the Patagonian Canal, one of the most beautiful waterways in the world, and her next stop was Recife, Brazil, where the ship's company spent Christmas and New Year.

Her CO, Cdr Ben Key, said: "I doubt that many of us will forget the memory of spending New Year's Eve on the beach under a sky filled with fireworks in the company of about one million Brazilian party-goers."

After the festivities HMS Iron Duke returned to her patrol duties off Sierra Leone in January, where she hosted a number of VIPs visitors, including President Kabbah, President of Sierra Leone, who conferred a special honour on the ship.

During the deployment sailors from HMS Iron Duke helped to build a school for orphans in Freetown and President Kabbah decreed that it should be known as Iron Duke Community School as a thank-you to the RN personnel who spent hundreds of man-hours constructing the building of its six classrooms.

Built on scrubland on the outskirts of Freetown, the school caters for 300 children aged from three to 13. The project was started by sailors from HMS Argyll and HMS Ocean in September and continued in earnest by Iron Duke's ship's company.

To complete the work, Iron Duke disembarked about 25 sailors each day for several weeks while she was on patrol, under the guidance of Project leader, CPOMEA Dave (Chippy) Milne.

During another logistics break at Tema, HMS Iron Duke carried out the first exercise between the navies of Britain, the USA and Ghana.

The Type 23 frigate joined forces with the 360-ton patrol craft USS Tempest and the 389-ton Ghanaian patrol vessel Achimota and her sister-ship Yogaga for manoeuvring and station-keeping exercises, and exchanges were arranged between the ships' companies.
Among visitors to Iron Duke in Ghana was the country's former president, Flt Lt Jerry Rawlings, who recently stood down as president in accordance with the country's constitution after democratic elections had voted in President Kuffuh. The reception was attended by British diplomats, high-ranking Ghanaian officials and representatives of Ghana's Navy

As the ship left West Africa, Cdr Key, said: "We have seen a considerable change in the situation in Sierra Leone during our time in the area.

"Although much of the country is still dominated by rebels, their lack of popular support and the increased capability of the Sierra Leone Armed Forces means that they are now very much on the back foot. At the same time, day-to-day conditions in the capital Freetown have improved considerably.

"Iron Duke has played an important role in the overall process as a very obvious and clear statement of UK commitment to supporting the democratically-elected Government, serving both to reassure the people of Freetown and to deter rebel forces. We are all very proud of our achievements."

HMS Iron Duke's duties as Atlantic Patrol ship South have been taken over by the Portsmouth-based Type 42 destroyer HMS Glasgow, which has already arrived in Sierra Leone after a brief visit to the Canary Islands.