There has been plenty of boat activity on the Firth of Clyde this morning, as readers of the News will have spotted.
The Minehunter HMS Hurworth was pictured passing Cumbrae on September 21 at 10.45am, by Largs and Millport News Camera Club member Ian Dalglish.
A highly skilled smaller ship, Hurworth plays a vital part in the worldwide mine countermeasures commitments.
Like her sister ships of the Hunt-class, HMS Hurworth boasts a world-leading mine disposal system, Seafox. This innovative technology – the most proficient system of its type ever invented – makes HMS Hurworth and the Royal Navy’s MCMV contingent the envy other navies across the globe.
She has been involved in weeks of intensive training to prove her readiness to support NATO on minehunting operations around Europe.
The ship’s company took her around the UK to prepare for the deployment, undergoing tests on their equipment, gunnery drills and emergency scenarios.
The minehunter has joined NATO Standing Mine Countermeasures Group 1 and will support on historic ordnance clearance and other minehunting exercises.
But to ensure she was ready, Hurworth’s Crew 3 were put through their paces starting with a visit from the Fleet Operational Sea Training team before a difficult transit north through the Pentland Firth. They had to battle bad weather, high sea states and strong tides, finally getting to Lamlash Harbour on the Isle of Arran.
Within the harbour, they tested their remotely-piloted underwater vessel Seafox which is used to locate mines while the Officers of the Watch practised manoeuvring the ship.
Hurworth is currently based on the Firth of Clyde for two weeks of assessments to ensure they can deploy with NATO. In recent weeks, they tested navigating without GPS and with defects to the bridge, firefighting, damage control and live firing of their weapons.
They also completed a winching exercise with the Coastguard and practised against attacks from fast boats with P2000 HMS Raider acting as the enemy.
And in front of Seamill bay at around the same time, the fishery patrol vessel Minna was in position.
It is a fishery patrol vessel which was built in 2003 and is sailing under the flag of United Kingdom.
Her carrying capacity is 210 t and her length overall (LOA) is 47.7 metres and her width is 10.05 metres.
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