The first ships of Naval Task Group 2003 (NTG 03) are heading out of port en route to the Mediterranean – ready for anything that might be asked of them.

The deployment has been planned for more than a year, and is scheduled to take a flotilla of warships, led by aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, to the Asia-Pacific region, returning to the UK in the summer.

But at a press conference held on board the carrier the day before she sailed, senior officers agreed that the group could be re-routed to participate in any potential operations against Iraq, flexibility being the key to any such Naval task group.

Capt Alan Massey, the Commanding Officer of Ark Royal, summed it up as: “We always hope for the best but are prepared for the worst.”

The press conference was indicative of the level of interest suddenly invested in this deployment, despite the fact that there has been no official change in the overall objectives of the programme, which is to participate in Exercise Flying Fish, an annual regional defence exercise involving the UK, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia and New Zealand.

More than 120 broadcasters and journalists attended the event – which featured Rear Admiral David Snelson, Commander UK Maritime Forces, Capt Massey and Lt Col Ben Curry, representing the Commandant General Royal Marines – and afterwards scoured the hangar and flight-deck for sailors to give their own accounts of how they felt just before the ship sailed.

Some of the questioning was politely rebuffed, as it strayed into the area of politics and speculation.

But other queries brought responses which gently reminded journalists what the Royal Navy was all about. When one journalist asked if the Ark was prepared for war, Capt Massey replied: “Well, as a warship, that’s really what we are here to do...”

Capt Massey said the ship’s company, average age 24, would be training for every eventuality – as usual – and the ship was well-stocked for the deployment, including thousands of chocolate bars and plenty of food: “When Royal marines are involved, you can treble the amount of food needed.”

Capt Massey himself is also well-prepared, having brought two electric guitars with him for relaxation “in case one breaks.”

The composition of NTG 03 was changed earlier this month to add an amphibious capability, and with HMS Ocean added to the group, along with destroyers, landing ships and mine countermeasures vessels, as well as two Royal Marines Commandos (40 Cdo and 42 Cdo) and 3 Commando Brigade headquarters, the exercises to be undertaken in the Mediterranean mean that the group will have a much wider range of capabilities should it be called upon to undertake operations in the Gulf.

Ark Royal herself sailed with around 100 Royal Marines on board, and has been configured as a helicopter carrier, in much the same way that Capt Massey’s former command HMS Illustrious we reconfigured while at sea during operations against the Taliban in Afghanistan last year.

She is due to sail first for Scotland to load supplies, then head back to the South-West Approaches where other elements of the extended group will meet before they sail into the Mediterranean.

Destroyers HMS York, HMS Edinburgh and HMS Liverpool left Portsmouth today, while Type 23 frigate HMS Marlborough leaves the same city at the end of the week, and MCMVs HMS Grimsby and HMS Ledbury are expected to sail early next week.

HMS Ocean is expected to leave Devonport later this week, while aviation training ship RFA Argus and landing ships Sir Percivale, Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram are due out of Southampton Water later this week.

Also involved in the task group will be supply ships RFAs Fort Victoria, Fort Austin and Fort Rosalie, while tanker RFA Orangeleaf is already in the Mediterranean.