THE Royal Navy's Faslane-based mine hunter HMS Penzance set off down the Gare Loch on her latest deployment to the Gulf on Friday – but without family and friends to wish the crew 'bon voyage'.

The coronavirus lockdown meant that only Navy sailors and HM Naval Base Clyde staff were able to wave off the 40-strong crew from the First Mine Counter Measures Squadron (MCM1) on June 5.

HMS Penzance will relieve HMS Blyth, which has been operating in the region for the past four years.

She will be manned for the next four months by Crew 3 – one of the eight MCM1 crews which rotate among the seven Sandown-class mine countermeasures vessels based at Faslane.

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Two ships at a time from the Sandown class have been deployed in the Gulf region since 2006 on peace-keeping duties and to keep trade routes open.

It's the first trial of new arrangements in which crews' tours are being shortened from the previous six months to four, in a bid to offer sailors greater stability while also maintaining high levels of readiness.

En route to the Gulf, HMS Penzance will meet up with the Portsmouth-based Hunt Class mine hunter HMS Chiddingfold before heading to the Gulf, where she will operate alongside their sister MCMVs, HMS Shoreham and HMS Brocklesby – as well as Type 23 Frigate HMS Montrose.

Lieutenant Commander Graeme Hazelwood, commanding officer of HMS Penzance, said that getting the ship ready for her deployment had been "a team effort" which was "made all the more challenging during the current coronavirus crisis".

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