This was followed by a passage south, away from Iraq, for a maintenance and rest period. This was scheduled to last three days and a great deal of entertainment had been planned once the necessary maintenance work had been performed.

Day one at anchor went well as the ship’s company took the opportunity to clean, tidy, repair and generally improve all parts of the ship. Before lunch a visiting Chief Weapons Engineer photographed the Ship’s Company from the fo’castle.

Executive Warrant Officer (EWO) Sadler, known affectionately by the crew as ‘The Minister of Misinformation,’ has had the unenviable task of personnel management.

This has involved him in accommodating over two hundred and ten personnel on a ship designed to carry a crew of one hundred and eighty.

Despite numerous difficulties he has managed to ensure that HMS Richmond has been manned with more personnel than usual whilst allowing members of the crew to rotate through essential shore based training programmes, harmony time and paternity leave whilst still being able to cover absences caused by ill health.

Mr Sadler has achieved this by his usage of the flexible TOPMAST system. TOPMAST has allowed HMS Richmond to maintain her Operational Performance Standards whilst meeting the needs of both the command and individual members of the crew.

After a hard day’s labour, the Executive Officer, Lieutenant Commander Morris, invited the Ship’s Company onto the Flight Deck to indulge in “sundowners in pirate rig,” or, in other words, enjoy a drink out of uniform.

This proved to be a popular activity as it was the first time during the deployment that it had occurred. The festivities were not interrupted by the unexpected arrival of a Sea King helicopter, merely re-located to the mid-ships cross passage, prior to the return to below decks for the evening meal.

Shortly afterwards came the news that HMS Richmond would have to get under way again the following morning in order to take up close escort duties for the carrier, HMS Ark Royal.

This has proved to be an interesting and challenging task for our bridge watch-keepers, they have to ‘shadow’ the carrier by observing every nuance of her manoeuvres and react accordingly.

As both warships possess vastly different handling characteristics this task requires both skill and concentration. Being in close company with HMS Ark Royal has allowed for transfer of personnel between ships.

HMS Richmond hosted eight ‘YO’s’ (Young Officers) whilst the carrier entertained one of our pilots, Lieutenant Cannell for a day.

In addition we have been visited by one of HMS Ark Royal's chaplains, the Reverend Tudor Botwood, who amongst other pastoral duties has lead a church service for us.

Luckily his visit coincided with our planned ‘four o’clockers’ when the catering department provided some delightful pastries to accompany afternoon tea in the mid-ships cross passage.

The Ship’s Company were able to indulge in this gluttony now that our ‘Club-swinger,’ LPTI Gorton, is running regular flight deck fitness circuits again to allow the extra pounds to be shed.