As one Devonport ship reached the end of her active life, another set off for the start of her first deployment.

Coastal survey vessel HMS Beagle returned to Plymouth on Friday, January 18 after 34 years service with the Hydrographic Surveying Squadron.

Meeting the veteran ship was First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Nigel Essenhigh, himself a former Hydrographer of the Navy.

Beagle sailed from Plymouth at the end of August to carry out surveys in the oilfields of the central Gulf of Arabia, north of Qatar.

She also played a role in the major tri-Service Exercise Saif Sareea off Oman last autumn.

In an intensive work period, Beagle surveyed more than 120 square miles of sea-bed, locating and charting more than 3,500 identifiable individual features.

This equates to surveying an area the size of Plymouth while being able to pick out isolated features the size of a dustbin.

Beagle also surveyed a sandbank discovered by Armilla patrol frigate HMS Kent, which proved to be three miles wide and 30 metres shallower than previously charted.

Given the significance of the shoal - large oil tankers operate in the area - it is hoped that the feature will be named Kent Bank in honour of the frigate.

Beagle also investigated the Northern Gulf to pinpoint wrecks, shoals and tankers which had been scuttled or sunk at their moorings, establishing safe depths for passing traffic.

The survey ship carried out a short maintenance period at Dubai at the beginning of December before spending Christmas in Cyprus.

|On her way back to the UK she answered a Mayday from a drifting refugee vessel, the Aydin Kapitan, which was wallowing in stormy seas, and a boarding team of three from the Royal Navy ship restarted the engine, plugged a dangerous leak and kept the ship afloat until more help arrived eight hours later.

Beagle is the third oldest vessel in the Fleet, yet the pace of her work did not slacken on her final deployment - she spent more hours at sea in November than in any time in her history.

In the year since her refit in January 2001, Beagle has steamed more than 27,500 miles - equivalent to more than once round the world.

Her Commanding Officer, Cdr Derek Turner, said: "Returning to Devonport from our second consecutive deployment within a year, I am pleased to say that, without exception, the ship's company have performed superbly and can be proud of their collective and personal achievements during Beagle's last year in commission.

"They have risen to every challenge in a keen and professional manner and have been a great credit to the Service and their families.

"Whilst the ship's company is glad to be home to a well-earned leave, there is a hint of sadness as we approach decommissioning."

The ship will formally decommission at a ceremony in Devonport in February, and the first of two new replacements - HMS Echo - is due to enter service later this year.

Sister ship HMS Enterprise will follow in 2003. The replacement vessels are much larger and will be fitted with state-of-the-art surveying sensors and equipment.

As Beagle approached Devonport, HMS Portland was already heading in the opposite direction, ready to assume Armilla duties on her first deployment.

The Type 23 frigate has reached full operational status just over a year after her delivery voyage from BAE Systems' yard at Scotstoun on the Clyde.

The past year has seen a series of trials and training programmes, and her Commanding Officer, Cdr Jonathan Handley, has been pleased with the results.

"I am immensely proud of the achievements of my ship's company over the past year," he said.

"To reach operational status in a such a short time has only been possible through the dedication, professionalism and sheer hard work of everybody on board.

"Portland is ready in all respects for the challenges that lie ahead."

Those challenges in the short term include enforcing UN sanctions against Iraq in the Arabian Gulf - and she has a hard act to follow, as sister ship HMS Kent prepares to return home to Portsmouth having bagged a record-breaking series of seizures of illegal oil cargoes.