Type 23 frigate HMS Norfolk leaves Devonport next week for a six-month deployment with other NATO ships in the Standing Naval Force Atlantic (SNFL).

Norfolk will relieve destroyer HMS Exeter in the seven-strong force, which follows a programme of patrols and exercises unless called on by NATO to join an operation.

The other ships of the group are currently drawn from the navies of the Netherlands, Portugal, Norway, Spain, Germany and the United States, and during her deployment Norfolk is expected to visit most of the European countries of the SNFL navies.

This is the second time in three years that Norfolk has joined the SNFL group - in 1999 she spent six months in it before being deployed to Sierra Leone for diplomatic, security and humanitarian operations.

The ship was awarded the Wilkinson Sword of Peace for her work in West Africa.

It is also a familiar task for her Commanding Officer, Cdr Richard Talbot, who commanded sister ship HMS Grafton as part of the same force last year.

Norfolk has just completed a docking period, trials and a comprehensive sea training package to prepare for the SNFL deployment.