A Royal Navy minehunter will sail into Inverness today for a minibreak from duty.
HMS Blyth, which visited Oban in January, will stop over for three days berthing at Longman Quay.
The ship is one of the Navy’s seven Sandown-class mine countermeasures vessels (MCMV) based at the Clyde naval base at Faslane.
The squadron has a long affiliation with Inverness.
In the past fortnight, she has carried out underwater surveys for historic ordnance in the Firth of Forth and the Moray Firth.
The ship’s 40 mixed-gender crew will be greeted by city provost and admiral of the Moray Firth, Helen Carmichael.
The crew include two sailors from the Inverness area and one from Lossiemouth.
A reception and capability demonstration will be held on board the vessel this evening.
Tomorrow, members of the ship’s company will attend the Inverness Highland Games.
There will be tours of the ship on Sunday by 1st Avoch Sea Scouts, 18th Inverness Sea Scouts and Training Ship Briton (Inverness Sea Cadet Corps) before HMS Blyth departs on Monday morning.
Inverness is affiliated to the Royal Navy’s First Mine Counter-Measures Squadron (MCM1).
A refit last year prepared the ship for operations across the globe.
The work, undertaken by Babcock, has seen the ship receive 15 specific capability upgrades and modifications including the installation of three new diesel generators.
Other work included the complete renewal of her hull’s outer paint and improvements made to the crew’s living areas.
HMS Blyth and her Faslane-based sister ships are among the most sophisticated minehunters in the world and operated by the best trained crews.
The ship’s next stop is the Sunderland air show.
HMS Blyth will be deploying to the Gulf next summer for six months.