Homecoming for HMS Liverpool 07.11.11

Families cheered and held up banners as HMS Liverpool returned to Portsmouth this morning after seven months working off the coast of Libya. The Defence Secretary Philip Hammond was on board the Type 42 destroyer to congratulate the Royal Navy for its “momentous” role in helping defeat Gaddafi’s troops. HMS Liverpool has spent seven months on deployment to support Operation Unified Protector – the Nato mission to enforce UN resolutions to protect Libyan civilians which formally ended on October 31. This involved the warship enforcing the no-fly zone and conducting embargo operations to prevent arms reaching pro-Gaddafi forces by sea. About 1,300 family and friends waited on the jetty to welcome back their loved ones and members of the public lined the seawalls of Portsmouth to wave home the ship and its crew of 250 sailors. As Liverpool sailed into the harbour, it fired a 15-gun salute and the ship’s Lynx helicopter did a flypast. Family members waved flags and banners and cheered.