OPERATION Aintree, the three-year tour of duty by minehunters HMS Ramsey and Blyth, has begun in earnest with the ships settling into to their new home in Bahrain.

The Sandown-class mine countermeasures vessels arrived in Mina Sulman, Bahrain, a few days shy of Christmas after a month-long passage from Faslane (the ships’ top speed is 14kts) via Portugal, Sardinia, Crete, Cyprus, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Oman.

And almost as soon as they arrived, half the ship’s companies disappeared back to Blighty on an RAF trooper flight to spend the festive season with loved ones; the remaining half flew home in early January once their shipmates returned.

Both ships are away from home for three years with their crews being rotated regularly. The aim is to keep the force in theatre longer, rather than waste two months of a six-month deployment getting to the Gulf and back.

And the reason why?

Many Britons will remember minehunters clearing a path for RFA Sir Galahad to deliver vital aid to Umm Qasr just a week into the Iraq campaign; the auxiliary’s arrival in the port was delayed by 24 hours because a minefield was found and had to be eradicated.

Four years later the waterways of Iraq are clear, but the threat of terrorists laying mines remains – and there is no more challenging environment than the Gulf for finding underwater explosives.

The warm waters of the region create a number of ‘layers’; hull-mounted sonar struggles to penetrate these layers, but the Sandowns’ variable depth sonar can be lowered beneath a troublesome layer to find that mine.

With Blyth and Ramsey deploying for up to three years and with the rotation of their ship’s companies, it means most Sandown crews will have experience of operating in such challenging conditions by the end of Aintree.

Besides training, the ships’ presence should serve as a reassuring presence to other mariners in the Gulf, and there is a myriad of opportunities to work with Allied navies in the region, from the Saudis, Omanis, UAE and Qataris, to US and French mine experts already in situ.

2007 begins for the duo in marked contrast to 2006; twelve months ago both vessels were in Norway for the RN’s winter deployment. The exterior of Blyth’s bull ring is still painted a deep blue after earning a traditional ‘blue nose’ for crossing the Arctic Circle.

“People are often surprised at how far and wide the RN’s minehunters roam,” said Lt Cdr John Craig, Blyth’s Commanding Officer. “What our hulls lack in size and speed, our people make up for in courage and determination.”