HMS Exeter is back home in Portsmouth - more than a month after she was due to finish her deployment.

The Type 42 destroyer was part of the NATO Standing Naval Force Mediterranean, or SNFM, a role she was due to relinquish before Christmas.

But the rapidly-unfolding events in the Middle East, including Operation Veritas against the Taliban regime and Al Qaeda terrorists in Afghanistan, led to the NATO force being moved to the Eastern Mediterranean in a standby role.

Exeter was one of four NATO ships checking the origin and destination of vessels sailing through the Suez Canal.

Exeter alone checked more than 300 ships, and filled any spare time with exercises, action drills and the like.

Lt Cdr Phil Pye, the ship's Public Relations Officer, said: "It was a busy deployment, especially since we were re-tasked after September 11. The operation certainly raised the profile of the Royal Navy in the region."

Exeter will now undergo a month-long maintenance programme, and her place in SNFM has now been taken up by Devonport-based Type 23 frigate HMS Norfolk.