After mustering in Naples in January, the early months of the deployment were spent 'working up' and exercising with the other units, including some time deployed in the Atlantic off Mauritania and the Canary Islands, prior to a 2-week maintenance period in La Spezia, Italy.

RICHMOND detached from SNFM in May for national tasking to commemorate the 60th Anniversary of the Battle of Crete. The ship played a significant part in the commemoration events to remember the men who were killed during the German invasion of Crete.

Afterwards RICHMOND hosted a VIP reception for the visiting dignitaries; including HRH the Duke of Kent, the Chief of the Defence Staff and over 120 veterans of the Battle. The veterans had some fascinating tales to tell and the whole visit was extremely moving.

Rejoining the NATO task group at the end of May the ship was involved in exercise Trident D'Or, the biggest exercise of the deployment with over 50 ships including aircraft carriers, submarines, aircraft and amphibious forces. This was followed by passage into the Black Sea for exercise Co-operative Partner, as part of the combined Partnership for Peace Initiative.

This exercise saw RICHMOND working alongside the former Soviet bloc navies of Georgia, Romania, Bulgaria and the Ukraine in the waters off the Georgian port of Poti. The aim of the exercise was to build mutual confidence between the forces in case they have to operate together for peace keeping or humanitarian operations; despite initial language barriers the exercise was, without doubt, a resounding success.

The Ship's Company were fortunate to get ashore in Poti on a number of occasions which was quite a sobering experience with farmyard animals wandering down the main street, unmade roads and shops with bare shelves. However, the austere surroundings were in sharp contrast to the warm welcome afforded from the local population, who clearly saw the visiting sailors as friends and allies.

From the Black Sea, the ship stopped at Istanbul for a well earned visit prior to sailing West down through the Dardanelles, passing the First World War landing sites of Gallipoli. Further exercises with SNFM were followed by a visit to Palermo from where the force dispersed and RICHMOND sailed homeward bound.

Whilst deployed the Ship's Company consumed 1400Kg of potatoes, 1.5 miles of sausage and 2500 loaves of bread washed down with 55000 tea bags and 5000 litres of milk. In addition the ship entertained 750 official guests including the Chief of the Defence Staff, the Prime Minister of New Zealand, HRH the Duke of Kent and the Georgian Defence Minister.

Although engaged in a busy operational programme the crew did manage to take up opportunities for sport and recreation. The highlight of the trip for 19 of the sailors onboard was a 2 day expedition to Mount Olympus, the highest point in Greece and the mythological home of the Gods.