Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Navy circumnavigates north-east coast to build links ahead of HMS Spey launch

Heldon and Laich councillor John Cowe and Moray Council’s Armed Forces Champion, Donald Gatt, ready to board HMS Example at Peterhead Harbour
Heldon and Laich councillor John Cowe and Moray Council’s Armed Forces Champion, Donald Gatt, ready to board HMS Example at Peterhead Harbour

A maritime patrol craft from the Royal Navy has toured the north-east ahead of formal links being established with the force.

HMS Example has taken the short voyage from Peterhead to Lossiemouth to showcase the capabilities of a similar vessel that will soon bear the name of Scotland’s great river.

HMS Spey is currently under construction by BAE Systems at its shipyard on the River Clyde and will be the last of five new offshore patrol craft.

Moray Council has already agreed to use the warship as an opportunity to renew historic links with the Navy.

Officers from the force piloted HMS Example down the Moray Firth coast as part of a familiarisation exercise ahead of the launch of the Spey next year.

The five-hour voyage is expected to be just the first step towards the region forging strong bonds with another arm of the military – after already playing host to bases manned by the Army and RAF.

HMS Spey will be nearly 300ft long with a flight deck large enough for a Merlin helicopter to land on and will be used to support counter-terrorism, anti-piracy, defence and anti-smuggling operations. It is also expected to carry a 30mm cannon.

The site that is now RAF Lossiemouth was previously operated by the force from 1946 to 1972 when it was known as HMS Fulmar.

Donald Gatt, Moray Council’s armed forces champion, was on board HMS Example for the trip along the Moray Firth coast with Heldon and Laich member John Cowe.

Mr Gatt said: “The affiliation between Moray Council and HMS Spey will pave the way for a personal link between the Royal Navy and the citizens of Moray.

“Once settled, other affiliations with an RAF squadron and Army regiment, and in Moray’s case, a Speyside distillery are expected to take place.”

The first of HMS Spey’s sister ships, the HMS Forth, was launched in August 2016 and is expected to become the permanent guardship for the Falkland Islands.