UK — HMS Talent returns from the Indian Ocean

Hun­dreds of peo­ple con­verged on HM Naval Base Devon­port to wel­come home Roy­al Navy sub­ma­rine HMS Tal­ent, which has spent sev­en months in the Indi­an Ocean.

HMS Tal­ent rounds Devil’s Point on her return to HM Naval Base Devon­port Source: LA(Phot) Claire Jones, Min­istry of Defence, UK Click to enlarge

The deploy­ment of the Trafal­gar Class sub­ma­rine is part of the UK’s com­mit­ment to pro­tect British inter­ests and pro­vide peace and sta­bil­i­ty in the Mid­dle and Near East regions. 

While deployed, the sub­ma­rine con­duct­ed oper­a­tions and a num­ber of high-pro­file anti-sub­ma­rine war­fare exer­cis­es with Mer­lin heli­copters from 820 Naval Air Squadron, Amer­i­can mar­itime patrol air­craft, Type 23 frigate HMS Northum­ber­land and the Los Ange­les Class sub­ma­rine, USS Alexandria. 

HMS Tal­ent also con­duct­ed the first exer­cise in recent years with a sub­ma­rine of the Indi­an Navy as part of an ongo­ing pro­gramme to pro­mote clos­er ties with India. 

In sup­port of UK defence diplo­ma­cy and capac­i­ty-build­ing Tal­ent paid vis­its to the Unit­ed Arab Emi­rates, India, Jor­dan and Crete. 

Return­ing home, Com­mand­ing Offi­cer of HMS Tal­ent, Com­man­der Simon Asquith, said: 

“It is great to be reunit­ed with fam­i­ly and friends. We had a very busy and demand­ing oper­a­tional deploy­ment and my team should be very proud of what they have achieved. It is par­tic­u­lar­ly good that so many of our fam­i­lies and friends are expect­ed to meet us on arrival. Their unwa­ver­ing sup­port to my team has been key to our success.” 

The sub­ma­rine will be along­side in Devon­port hav­ing been at sea for over 400 of the last 600 days and will under­go essen­tial main­te­nance and weapons upgrade work by Bab­cock Marine. 

Com­man­der Asquith added: 

“We are all very much look­ing for­ward to work­ing in part­ner­ship with Bab­cock Marine and their high­ly skilled work­force on this ambi­tious joint project.” 

An upgrad­ed Tal­ent will emerge from Devon­port next year and be ready once again to deploy glob­al­ly at the fore­front of Roy­al Navy oper­a­tions if called upon. 

Dur­ing her lat­est deploy­ment, HMS Tal­ent sailed a total of 27,000 miles (43,500km), crossed two oceans, two seas and two of the largest Gulfs in the world (Atlantic Ocean, Indi­an Ocean, Ara­bi­an and Mediter­ranean Seas and the Gulfs of Aden and Oman). 

Press release
Min­istry of Defence, UK 

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