AFTER a brief ‘pit stop’ in her home port of Marchwood to offload commandos and kit after exercises in Sierra Leone, new landing support ship RFA Mounts Bay made her first journey inside the Arctic Circle.

Four hundred Royals were itching to depart after the Vela deployment to West Africa; they and all their equipment were offloaded at the Sea Mounting Centre in Southampton Water in just seven hours.

Barely had the green berets gone than more stores were loaded aboard.

The ship was called upon for winter wargames in northern Norway – Exercise Clockwork – which meant delivering plenty of military kit to Sørreisa, near Tromsø, a good 250 miles inside the Arctic Circle.

The ship’s CO Capt Ross Ferris decided to shave 24 hours off the journey north by travelling up the coast rather than heading through the fjords – a wise move as a low pressure system was closing on Sørreisa; hopefully there would be time to discharge the cargo and make a dash to the south before the weather set in.

“We lost the sun as we entered the Arctic Circle and wouldn’t rise again for four days,” said 3/O Alex White.

“This and the near freezing temperatures came as an unpleasant surprise to those of us who had got used to the hot sunny weather of equatorial climes.

“But being this far North did have its advantages as we were privileged enough to witness the Northern Lights.”

The cargo was successfully offloaded on to the jetty before the storms arrived; there was even time for 3/O White to hop ashore and take a few photographs for the ship’s album – while his shipmates closed the stern ramp and readied to sail.

Fortunately, they realised the officer wasn’t aboard before departure and opened the door.

This was a lightning visit to the Arctic.

As soon as the cargo was ashore, the landing ship – one of four replacements for the aged Knights of the Round Table – made straight for Portland.

Despite the rapid unloading in Sørreisa, the ship still found herself sailing into the storm as hurricane-force winds (up to 60 knots) buffeted Mounts Bay.

All she could do in the situation was slow to five knots, hove to and hope to ride out the storm.

That she did, but it wasn’t until she reached the Shetlands that the ship stopped rolling.

The busy autumn ended in Portland harbour for some well-earned Christmas leave, allowing Capt Ferris to hand over to his successor Capt Trevor Iles.

“Mounts Bay has had a fantastically successful first year in operation, covering many thousands of miles in almost every weather condition imaginable,” said 3/O White.

“In the past three months alone we have covered 14,000 miles, between just north of the Equator and inside the Arctic Circle.”