The Royal Navy’s flagship during the Iraq War, HMS Ark Royal, and her escorting destroyer HMS York, returned to a warm welcome in Portsmouth on Saturday, four months after the carrier sailed on a mission shrouded in uncertainty.

The aircraft carrier had been due to sail to the Far East at the head of Naval Task Group 03 in January, but with Saddam Hussein ignoring all ultimatums the maritime force group was quickly reconfigured as an amphibious group, and convened on the Gulf in the hope that the Iraqi dictator would buckle under pressure.

When hostilities began, Ark Royal, now acting as a helicopter carrier, and HMS Ocean were instrumental in putting Royal Marines Commandos ashore and ensuring that the spearhead troops were supplied as they fought their way north towards Basra.

Tragedy struck in the early days when two Mk 7 ASACs Sea Kings of 849 Naval Air Squadron A Flight collided over the Northern Arabian Gulf, killing seven people.

Now, with stabilisation of the ravaged country the priority, many of the ships have been released to return home or continue on their scheduled programmes.

Ark Royal is the first RN surface warship involved in the conflict to return home, and she was followed into Portsmouth Harbour on Saturday afternoon by Type 42 destroyer HMS York.

Both ships were given the honour of a helicopter flypast featuring three of the machines which operated with the Amphibious Task Group – a Merlin, a Lynx and a Chinook.