FRIGATE HMS Sutherland is on her way home having handed over Gulf duties to her sister, eight months after leaving Britain’s shores.

The waters off the Egyptian port of Safaga were the setting for the transfer of responsibilities – and some kit – between Sutherland and Richmond.

The former has been away from home in Devonport since September 25 last year, spending the bulk of that time in the northern Arabian Gulf safeguarding Iraq’s oil platforms.

More recently she has diverged from the Gulf to operate in the Indian Ocean on security operations and exercises with Allied navies.

Those maritime security operations persisted into the Red Sea, before Sutherland put into Safaga to give her crew a break.

The sailors divided their time between sightseeing (the Valley of the Kings proved especially popular) and scuba diving.

With official duties with Richmond done, Sutherland headed through Suez and into the Mediterranean for yet more security work, while Richmond headed east to take up station.

And if the names Brian Jacks, Jonah Barrington and David Vine conjure up the halcyon days of television, then Sutherland’s flight deck evoked such memories by bringing back 70s sports show Superstars.

The original TV programme pitted some of the leading names in British sport against each other in a variety of physical challenges, including 100-metre dash, 800 metres, weightlifting, rowing, tennis, bicycle racing, a gym test, and swimming.

Of course, not all these sports could be replicated on a Type 23 frigate, but Jack has a wonderful knack at improvisation.

And so each mess submitted at least one team of six superstars to grapple with a 500-metre row, 40 bench presses, 50 squat thrusts, 50 sit-ups, a foam drum carry and finally three rope climbs.

Oh yes, and it was all done in the blazing Middle East heat with temperatures over 35˚C.
Perhaps not surprisingly, Sutherland’s Royal Marines boarding party set the fastest time of all competitors.