Type 22 frigate HMS Campbeltown has left Devonport on a six-month deployment with a NATO maritime task group.

The warship relieves sister frigate HMS Cornwall as flagship of the Standing Naval Force Atlantic, or SNFL.

Campbeltown will first head for the Eastern Mediterranean, where the Force is carrying out patrols as part of Operation Active Endeavour, the global war against terror.

Since October 2001 SNFL and their counterparts in the Med – Standing Naval Force Mediterranean or SNFM – have been monitoring shipping passing through the region and carrying out boarding operations on a rotational basis.

Commodore Richard Ibbotson RN, who currently commands SNFL, will transfer with his staff to HMS Campbeltown from HMS Cornwall.

Campbeltown returned to operational duties earlier this year after a six-month docking period, and has most recently undergone operational sea training in preparation for this deployment.

Capt Bruce Williams, the Commanding Officer of Campbeltown, said: “This deployment is a tangible demonstration of the UK’s commitment a worldwide force for good, and to the fight against global terrorism, in partnership with our NATO allies.

“As we depart, we remain focussed on the important role we will be carrying out, but our thoughts are naturally with the families and friends that we leave behind and who give us so much support while we are away.”

Campbeltown is the third of the four Type 22 Batch 3 frigates serving with the Royal Navy and was launched 16 years ago yesterday at Birkenhead, entering service on May 27 1989.

The Type 22 frigates are large and powerful frigates, acting as crucial components of a task group, as command ships, or as ‘singletons’, operating almost alone – a similar range of roles to the Navy’s former cruisers. She has a ship’s company of 255.