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As Her Majesty The Queen made her arrival at the Naval Base to bid farewell to HMS Ocean, a 21-gun salute was made in her honour to mark her arrival and to welcome her to the Naval Base.

The Royal Navy’s largest operational warship, HMS Ocean affectionately known as the Mighty ‘O’, has been de-commissioned in a military ceremony held alongside at Devonport Naval Base.

The Queen, who launched the ship as the ship’s sponsor, was guest of honour at the ceremony, along with head of the Navy, First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Philip Jones and more than 500 of the ship’s company, their families and affiliates of the ship.

During the de-commissioning ceremony Her Majesty inspected a parade of the ship’s company on the jetty and observed a flypast of military aircraft as she boarded the ship.  The crowds were entertained by music of the Royal Marines Band.

The ceremony ended with the Royal Navy White Ensign symbolically hauled down from flying the ship’s main mast.

Her Majesty met members of the crew and their families on board before being presented with the official de-commissioning book and with mementoes and gifts from the ship.

The ship officially leaves service with the Royal Navy this week after an eventful 20-year history.  During her busy career HMS Ocean has shown she is not only a warship that can engage the enemy, but engages with the world as a symbol of UK influence.  This has been seen recently with her humanitarian aid to hurricane-devastated British Overseas Territories in the Caribbean islands.

The ship’s second-in-command, Commander Nick Wood, said: “This is a sad day for us all. This is our home when we are away. But while we will miss HMS Ocean we mustn’t let emotion cloud the bright future for the Royal Navy or stand in the way of progress. The ship that replaces HMS Ocean, HMS Prince of Wales, is much larger and has greatly increased advanced capability.”

He likened living on HMS Ocean as being in a self-contained floating village with a gym, a chapel and the added bonuses of making drinking water on board and providing hospital care while carrying up to 1,000 personnel offering a huge range of expertise.

Lieutenant Lindsey Gascoigne had a starring parade role, standing a few feet away from The Queen at the front of the guard; she carries the Queen’s Colour.  The Queen’s Colour is a special silk White Ensign with Crown and Royal Cypher – a symbol of respect to the Navy which represents heroic deeds and battle honours. Lindsey said: “It’s a huge honour and privilege to carry the Queen’s Colour for ‘her’ ship and it’s a huge responsibility.  It makes it especially poignant because one of the new carriers is named after her.’’

Her Majesty was hosted to lunch by HMS Ocean.  The ship’s catering team were consulted from the beginning and were asked to come up with ideas.  Chef Carl Tester of Plymouth says cooking for the Queen is the peak of his career in the Royal Navy: “I’ve cooked for lots of top people including the First Sea Lord, the top man in the Navy, which is big enough. But the Queen is the peak of my career. You don’t get any more important than that. We’re all very excited about this opportunity.’’

The helicopters in the flypast were a Wildcat Mark 2  – 815 Naval Air Squadron (NAS)  Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton (RNAS); Sea King Mk 7 – 849 NAS  RNAS Culdrose; Merlin Mk2  (x2)  – 814 NAS  RNAS Culdrose;  Merlin Mk3; 845 NAS – RNAS Yeovilton; Chinook  – 27 Squadron RAF Odiham.

Lieutenant Commander David Starkey, operations officer on board HMS Ocean, played a key role in the ceremony as parade commander. He said: “It’s a great honour to be the parade commander – standing out in front almost on my own. It’s been a lifelong ambition to meet the Queen and I couldn’t be more proud today.  This is the peak of my career after 14 years in the military and a very fitting way to end this stage in my career. It has been a hugely eventful period serving with HMS Ocean with the Caribbean hurricane relief and a NATO deployment.’’

 

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