After escorting three cargo loads of chemicals, the frigate is turning for home having handed over duties to destroyer HMS Diamond.
Montrose in company with the Danish and Norwegian warships and ro-ro ferries carrying hazardous chemicals out of Syria. Pictures: LA(Phot) Alex Knott, HMS Montrose
THREE cargo loads have been safely escorted out of Syria for destruction as HMS Montrose joined an international effort to eliminate President Assad’s chemical weapon capability.
The Devonport-based frigate worked with warships from Denmark and Norway to shepherd two merchant vessels carrying substances through the eastern Mediterranean – part of the United Nations mission to remove the potential ingredients for chemical weapons from the war-torn country.
To date, the multi-national task group has completed three ‘pickups’, escorting the merchant ships MV Taiko and Ark Futura to the Syrian port of Latakia to collect the chemicals.
To put those chemicals beyond use forever, they are being loaded on to the ro-ro ferries for transport to Gioia Tauro, near the south-western tip of Italy, where the materials will be transferred to a US Government the vessel, MV Cape Ray, for subsequent treatment to neutralise them – a process called hydrolysis.
Montrose's ops room team monitors the air and sea picture around the task group
After nearly two months on Operation RECSYR (REmoval of Chemicals from SYRia), Montrose has just handed over duties to destroyer HMS Diamond.
The frigate’s Commanding Officer Cdr James Parkin says the mission has been amongst the most challenging the Royal Navy has carried out in many years.
“This is a mission of global significance. These materials need removing, so we are hugely proud of what we are doing here. We doing this job with the eyes of the world upon us, so we need to ensure we do it well,” he said.
“This is the real deal. It’s probably the hardest and crunchiest mission I have known in my career. We are at the highest state of readiness – people back home in the UK perhaps don’t realise that. These are busy waters – and this is a demanding and very real task.”
A near-vertical view of Montrose from the cockpit of her Lynx Mk8 helicopter
Montrose had been in the Gulf since August, working with the UK’s allies and keeping the sea lanes open, when she received instructions at the turn of the year to head for the eastern Mediterranean at full speed to support the Syrian mission.
The Danish-led operation sees the merchant ships go into port to load chemical substances from the Syrian stockpile.
While the flagship HDMS Esbern Snare and HNoMS Helge Ingstad accompany the merchant ships into Latakia, Montrose has remained outside Syrian waters providing additional security.
Even from international waters a dozen miles from the Syrian coast, the signs of ongoing civil war are all too evident.
Montrose conducts a practise replenishment at sea with the Norwegian HNoMS Helge Ingstad
“There are the visual signs of what’s happening – flashes from explosions, smoke plumes rising. We see activity daily, and it’s particularly evident at night,” Cdr Parkin said.
Apart from the occasional logistical stop in Cyprus, his ship’s company of 200 men and women have been working 12 hour shifts since early-January.
“For the last few months we have been going around the world doing a job I love – which has been quality,” said AET Carwyn Jones, who maintains the Lynx.
“Now we are involved in something really important for the world in general, so my mum will be proud!”
An upper-deck sentry mans a GPMG as the sun goes down over the eastern Med
Montrose’s Operations Officer Lt Cdr Ben Evans added: “I am bloody proud to be here doing what we are – this is definitely the culmination of my career so far.
“It’s no exaggeration to say that doing this job, with these guys, makes me achingly proud to be part of the best ship in the best navy in the world.”
Cdr Parkin says such comments underline the morale of his men and women, asked to do a difficult and demanding job at the tail end of an already-demanding deployment.
“My ship’s company have reacted really well to the intense work that this mission has demanded. They are fully aware of the importance of what we’re doing,” he added.
Montrose received praise for her efforts from Danish Commodore Torben Mikkelsen, in charge of the RECSYR task group.
“You have contributed to making the world a safer place to be,” he told the British warship as she departed.
“You can return to the UK in the best possible manner, knowing that you have made a difference to the overall mission to remove chemical agents from Syria. Thank you so much for the professional and dedicated work.”
Montrose is due home in Devonport in mid-March.