After playing a key role in operations against Saddam Hussein in the Gulf, HMS Chatham still has plenty to do before her deployment ends.

The Type 22 frigate provided naval gunfire support, along with HMS Marlborough, HMS Richmond and HMAS Anzac, when Royal Marines of 40 and 42 Commando went into the strategically-important Al Faw peninsula in Southern Iraq in March.

The four ships were stationed in a firing area in the Khawr Abd Allah waterway, in restricted and shallow water, and targets ashore included bunker positions and other military installations.

But once that and other tasks in the Northern Gulf were finished, Chatham headed south to take up her original programme which, for the third time in two years, had her making a contribution to the global war against terrorism.

Chatham is the lead British maritime unit in Operation Enduring Freedom, which is being carried out by a 15-strong coalition of nations, and was established soon after the terrorist attacks of September 11 2001.

Her programme has taken her south of the Equator off the east coast of Africa and far out into the Indian Ocean for lengthy periods, with her day-to-day tasking varying according to current operations.

She has around three months of her deployment left, and as such contact with the folks back home remains a high priority.

The ship’s company can use on-board email links, there are phone links while at sea, and the traditional Forces Aerogrammes or “Blueys” allow free mail to and from the ship during active operations.

A port visit to the Seychelles has also been pencilled into the programme to allow some family and friends to fly out to meet up with the ship’s company.

The Commanding Officer of HMS Chatham, Capt The Honourable Michael Cochrane, said: “I am very proud of the professionalism and dedication that HMS Chatham’s ship’s company displayed during the military action in Iraq.

“As we move on to perhaps less tense, but just as valuable operations, I am confident the team will maintain their spirit and enthusiasm as they can rightly be proud of the job that they do so well.”

Chatham is due back in Devonport at the beginning of August after a deployment of around seven months.