HMS Kent sails into adopted county for four day Dover visit

HMS Kent, a Type 23 frigate affiliated to the county, will be calling at Dover for a four day visit later this month.

The 133-metre ship will tie up at Prince of Wales Pier on Friday September 21 at midday, remaining in port until Monday afternoon (September 24).

It is a busy programme for the ship's company, which commences on Friday evening with a reception on board for invited guests.

On Saturday from 1pm, HMS Kent crew members will form an honorary guard as part of the parade to mark the unveiling of the Operation Fuller Memorial.

The Royal Navy's 1st Sea Lord, Admiral Sir Mark Stanhope, will also attend the ceremonial proceedings held on Marine Parade Gardens for the dedication of this significant granite memorial honouring the brave men of all three services that took part in Operation Fuller more commonly referred to as the Channel Dash.

The Operation was planned by Admiral Bertram Ramsay in the tunnels below Dover Castle and at the forefront were six Fairey Swordfish bi-planes with a total of 18 Fleet Air Arm aviators that launched from RAF Manston near Ramsgate to intercept and attack the powerful German battleships Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen which had left port in Brest, France undetected the day before to return to Germany.

Supporting in the attack were MTBs from Dover, shore batteries of the Royal Artillery, destroyers from Harwich and aircraft of Fighter and Bomber Command RAF.

The three battleships were protected by an accompanying flotilla of some further 50 warships of varying sizes.

Due to the surprise element of the movement of the German battleships, the Royal Navy, Army and Royal Air Force were on the back foot and, despite a lack of full air cover the Swordfish, under the command of Lt Cdr Eugene Esmonde VC DSO, flew to almost certain destruction, managing to inflict relatively minor damage to their German targets before being shot down.

Only five men from the total of 18 who undertook the mission survived and only one of these survivors was uninjured. The bravery and self-sacrifice of these young aviators was noted both at home and by the German forces. The memorial also marks the sacrifice from the crew of HMS Worcester and RAF airmen. The theme of the unveiling is Recognition, Remembrance and Reconciliation.

To coincide with the dedication of the memorial, HMS Kent opening her gangway to members of the public.

From 9.30am to 12 noon and 3pm to 5pm, the ship will welcome visitors on board to view some of the equipment onboard a modern warship and also have the chance to talk to the crew about their experiences in the Royal Navy.

On Sunday, some of the ship's company will journey to Sittingbourne where they will visit Demelza House, the ship's affiliated charity, and meet with both staff and children to hear more about the work carried out by the hospice. Whilst there they will help redevelop part of the hospice, in order to make it a nicer environment for the residents and their families.

The ship will also be hosting various groups and youth organisations, including Sea Cadets from Sheerness and Tunbridge Wells, who will be given tours onboard.

A friendly football match will be played between HMS Kent and Icklesham United.

Further group visits will be conducted on Monday before the ship departs Dover port at 3pm.

"I am delighted to be bringing HMS Kent back to her home county," said Commander Ben Ripley, HMS Kent's Commanding Officer. "My Ship's Company are pleased to be able to provide a Guard of Honour for the Channel Dash Memorial, dedicated to the memories of the extraordinarily brave men who flew their Swordfish aircraft to the heart of the enemy with little regard for their own safety.

"By contrast to this very poignant ceremony, on the very same day, I am looking forward to welcoming the people of Kent onboard and hope that as many as possible will come along and find out more about HMS Kent and life in the modern Royal Navy.

"We always receive a great welcome and fantastic hospitality when we visit Kent and I thoroughly look forward to further strengthening our treasured links with the county."

The Port of Dover's Chief Executive Bob Goldfield said: "We are delighted to host HMS Kent at the Port of Dover as it returns to the county after which is it named. We will ensure that the Ship's Company receives the very best support during the stay, enabling a programme of local community events which includes public access to the ship."

Powerful and versatile with the capability to operate anywhere in the world, the Type 23 frigate is the mainstay of the modern surface fleet.

Originally designed for the principal task of anti-submarine warfare, they have evolved into multi-purpose ships with the capability to operate anywhere in the world. The effectiveness of these Ships is enhanced by their stealth design, which reduces their radar signature significantly.

In addition to warfare roles, the ship also conducts counter piracy and embargo operations using Royal Navy and Royal Marine boarding teams inserted via the ship's boats or Merlin helicopter, humanitarian relief and surveillance operations.

The current HMS Kent is the twelfth ship to bear the name and its ship's company is very proud of her impressive 16 battle honours earned by her distinguished predecessors.

The ship was built by BAE Systems at Scotstoun on the Clyde and was launched in May 1998 by her sponsor, HRH Princess Alexandra.

The 14th of 16 Type 23 'Duke' class frigates, HMS Kent was commissioned on 8 June 2000 and is based in Portsmouth.

HMS Kent has recently completed an extensive £24M refit which included installing Sonar 2087, 4.5 MOD1 medium range gun, 30MM Guns, in order to maintain its cutting edge war fighting capability.

In the spring the Ship successfully completed Basic Operational Sea Training and will soon conduct a multinational naval exercise in Scotland, which is all part of preparations for an operational deployment in 2013.