SAILORS from Britain’s strike carrier HMS Illustrious and her trusty escort HMS Manchester have been ‘on the town’ as the duo paid a high-profile visit to the city that never sleeps.

New York was the first port of call for the two Portsmouth-based warships as they began a summer deployment Stateside.

This was the first visit to Manhattan by a British flat-top since Lusty’s sister Invincible called in back in 2004 – a visit which also coincided with July 4 celebrations.

And one thing is essential when in New York: a rig run. Everyone, as we know, loves a sailor.

“It was a fantastic experience to walk around New York, to see famous landmarks such as the Empire State Building, and to speak to New Yorkers who were very keen to capture us on photograph and listen to a sea dit or two,” said Lusty’s AB(WS) Parkinson.

The carrier hosted numerous dignitaries, including Britain’s Consul General in the Big Apple, Sir Alan Collins, and Sir Emyr Jones-Parry, the UK’s representative on the United Nations’ Security Council.

And there was a sobering moment for some of Illustrious’ ship’s company at the site of the World Trade Center.

CO Capt Tim Fraser and the ship’s chaplain Fr David Yates laid a wreath at Ground Zero and gave a brief eulogy in honour of the victims of the 9/11 atrocities.

On a happier note, Lusty’s sports teams clashed with local professional and NYPD sides on the football, rugby and hockey pitches; the latter clash saw the closest result with the flat-top going down 5-4 to Rye Field, one of the top amateur sides in the USA.

Manchester made a lightning dash across the Atlantic to ensure she would be in the Big Apple for Independence Day celebrations.

Barely a week before July 4 the Busy Bee was something of a building site as RN and FSL engineers worked around the clock to revamp three of the destroyer’s four diesel generators (a new radar aerial was also thrown into the mix to add to the ‘fun’).

And so it was that Lusty sailed on ahead, with Manchester departing Pompey two days behind.

A mid-ocean rendezvous was hastily arranged with RFA Fort George for refuelling – if the two ships missed the meet-up for any reason Manchester’s visit to New York would be off.

Thankfully, they did not fail to meet – although 24 hours later the destroyer was tossed about in 35ft seas and battered by 55kt winds which would have prevented any mid-Atlantic refuelling.

So severe was the weather in the ocean that it flooded the destroyer’s 4.5in turret and shorted an electrical circuit – promptly fixed by CPO Daryl Griffiths and his team to allow the gun to work once more.

With all the dramas dealt with Manchester sailed up the East River to Brooklyn where her berth afforded the ship’s company a magnificent view of the Manhattan skyline.

The two ships have now moved to waters off Virginia where 16 US Marine Corps AV8B Harriers and their 200-strong supporting aircrew have joined the British carrier for the first time for a multi-national exercise along the Eastern Seaboard.

Upon completion of the war games, Illustrious is due to visit Charleston before heading back across the Pond.