Rather than go their separate ways from RAF Brize Norton, the 80 or so sailors were treated to a ‘homecoming party’ with loved ones at a nearby hotel.
Lt Cdr Eleanor Stack (HMS Quorn’s CO) and Lt Cdr Paul Ottewell (Ramsey’s CO) stand at the front of some of their respective ship’s companies. Pictures: PO(Phot) Owen Cooban, FRPU East
STANDING on the boarding stairs on the tarmac at RAF Brize Norton are 37 men and women – roughly half the ship’s companies of two Royal Navy minehunters who enjoyed a unique homecoming after keeping the waters of the Gulf safe.
The crews of HMS Quorn – normally based in Portsmouth – and HMS Ramsey – based in Faslane, Scotland – flew back in an Airbus 330 with the Royal Air Force to its Oxfordshire transport hub, their six-month deployment to the Middle East completed.
But rather than scatter to their homes across the UK having been reunited with loved ones, the crews remained together for another couple of hours as a ‘homecoming party’ was staged at a nearby hotel.
There they were greeted with banners, balloons, flowers, excited children and tearful partners – all the trappings of a traditional ship’s homecoming.
By flying back to Britain, sailors on the Royal Navy’s four Bahrain-based minehunters have typically been denied all the ceremony associated with a ship sailing into harbour – such as HMS Illustrious’ very public homecoming on Friday, witnessed by 5,000 people and accompanied by messages of thanks from the premier and ministers.
Paige Newman embraces HMS Quorn’s AB(MW)Christian Parker
The welcome for Quorn and Ramsey at the Oxford Witney Four Pillars Hotel in Witney was a much lower key affair – but filled with the same raw emotions.
Two-year-old Todd and his older brother Finn Jones, aged four, were dressed in matching ‘I love my daddy’ by mum Jenny to welcome home HMS Quorn’s Leading Diver Toby Jones from Emsworth, near Havant.
And the excitement of seeing dad for the first time in half a year was too much for eight-month-old Tyler who slept through much of the reunion for his mum Kelly Nickleson and dad Able Seaman Sean Clive.
To build up anticipation, the crews tweeted every step in their final two days aboard their ships in the Gulf, from the last breakfast and showers, to handing over the keys to the minehunters to their successor crews and changing into winter clothes in Cyprus ready for January temperatures in the UK – where it’s 6˚C cooler than in the Gulf.
“Rather than trickle out one-by-one from the arrivals gate, we wanted to mark the end of our 182-day deployment in style by arriving back together as one team to a short homecoming event in a hotel,” said Lt Cdr Paul Ottewell, HMS Ramsey’s Commanding Officer.
“It gives us all something of the emotion, ceremony and sense of accomplishment that a ship gets when it returns alongside in the UK after a long deployment – something that is impossible to replicate in an airport.”
LD Toby Jones of HMS Quorn is reunited with his wife Jenny and sons Todd (two) and Finn(four)
PO Roy McIntosh, HMS Quorn’s deputy weapon engineer officer, said simply: “It’s great to be back.
“We get used to sailing back into port after deployment and having emotional receptions, so to have this welcome at a hotel after a long flight home is just fantastic. After six months away over the festive period, I’m now looking forward to celebrating a belated Christmas and New Year with the family.”
The Royal Navy maintains a permanent minehunting presence in the Gulf – four ships all based in Bahrain: two Sandown-class ships (HMS Ramsey and Shoreham), two Hunt-class vessels (HMS Quorn and Atherstone).
The ships themselves spend three to three and a half years in the Middle East, but the crews rotate every six or seven months, trading places with counterparts manning sister vessels back in Portsmouth or Faslane.
Quorn’s crew joined their ship last July after three months of intensive training aboard HMS Hurworth around the UK.
The ship has visited most Gulf states and major cities since then – Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Fujairah and Doha – and worked extensively with military forces in the region, from Middle East states to US and patrolling Royal Navy warships.
She played a key role in the Royal Navy’s key autumn exercise in the Gulf, Sea Khanjar, clearing a safe path through a mock minefield for flagship HMS Bulwark and helicopter carrier HMS Illustrious.
HMS Quorn’s AB(MW)Sean Clive rejoins his girlfriend Kelly Nickleson and son Tyler (eight months)
Her deployment rounded off with Quorn’s three chefs battling it off against world-renowned cooks at the Diplomat Radisson Blu in Bahrain in a Ready, Steady Cook-style competition, with two hours to prepare a three-course meal for a hungry ship’s company in the hotel’s kitchen.
LCH Graeme ‘Big Ginge’ Murdoch and his shipmates Chefs Andrew ‘Little Ginge’ Halcrow and Chef Alex ‘Tug’ Wilson produce a duck starter, fish main course and an elaborate dessert.
“I particularly enjoyed having full access to the range of equipment they had available, as well as being able to try out new techniques freely,” said LCH Murdoch, from Wigan.
“I would like to see if they could still produce this calibre of food in my galley in heavy seas though.”
Sadly for his team, the Radisson’s chefs pipped them at the post, winning the competition with a score of two courses to one.
However, all three Royal Navy chefs were commended by the hotel manager and resident chefs on the quality of their cooking and presentational skills.
After leave the crews will return to Faslane and Portsmouth; Quorn’s sailors are due to take over HMS Hurworth once again.
The crews of minehunters HMS Quorn and Ramsey were treated a unique homecoming after stepping off the plane from a six-month deployment in the Gulf.