IS IT a bird? Is it a plane? No, it’s quite obviously a plastic mouse wearing a tight yellow suit and red cape.

Introducing Mighty Mouse, the official mascot of Her Majesty’s Ship Chatham, who’ll be accompanying the frigate and her fine ship’s company on all their escapades.

FRIGATE HMS Cumberland is fit for sea after an extensive refit in her home port – two weeks ahead of schedule.

Teams from Devonport support organisation DML have been swarming over the warhorse since the beginning of the year.

ROYAL Marines will get a beefed-up battlefield patrol vehicle for deployments from next year after Whitehall placed a £30m contract.

An armed Land Rover, known as a WMIK (Weapon Mounted Installation Kit), has served the green berets well – most notably in Afghanistan.

FISHERY protection ship HMS Severn broke off from her usual duties to spend five days in her affiliated city.

The ship is bonded with the Welsh port of Newport and despite her relatively short career, events involving cityfolk and the ship’s company are already annual affairs.

THE Navy’s vital auxiliary fleet will largely remain as it is, senior officers have ruled after a two-year review.

The Royal Fleet Auxiliary – which operates repair vessels, tankers, training ships and floating warehouses to support the RN’s global operations – has found itself increasingly fulfilling front-line roles in recent years.

ON A glorious late summer Sunday morning 216 days away from home came to an end for frigate HMS Cornwall, which arrived safely back in Devonport after an eventful trip to the Gulf.

To the outside world the deployment will most be remembered for the capture of Cornwall’s RN/RM boarding by Iranian Revolutionary Guards in March and the subsequent media meltdown.

SAILORS spent three days clearing up in the aftermath of Hurricane Dean, repairing homes in Belize.

Dean battered its way through the Commonwealth country after swirling around the Caribbean, striking Jamaica, Montserrat and St Lucia, before blowing itself out over the Yucatan peninsula.

THE passageways of frigate HMS Somerset are open to allcomers tomorrow and Friday as the ship participates in Dartmouth’s annual Royal Regatta.

The Devonport-based warship has made the short journey from her home to the River Dart, where she moors today as the official guardship for the maritime festival in the shadow of the spiritual home of the Navy’s Officer Corps.

TWO days after summer leave, the men and women of HMS Northumberland joined the war against terrorism.

The Devonport-based Type 23 frigate left the south-west behind and is now bound for the Mediterranean to take up station with NATO’s 2nd Standing Naval Group Mediterranean.

THE ‘white rose’ sailors paid the first visit to the city which gives their ship her name in three years.

And the men and women of HMS York won’t be back in Yorkshire’s county town for some time as the destroyer prepares for a year out of action while she undergoes a major refit.

FRIGATE HMS Richmond has completed her first patrol around Iraq’s oil platforms as she replaces HMS Cornwall in the northern Arabian Gulf.

Barely had Richmond taken over from Cornwall than she found herself hosting new Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth, acquainting himself with the work of British forces in the Gulf.