HMS Grimsby has arrived in Rosyth Royal dockyard and berthed in the shadow of HMS Queen Elizabeth following an exceptionally busy 6 months for both the crew and the ship and a short but bumpy transit from Faslane over the top of Scotland.
In Rosyth Grismby will receive a full refit that will encompass deep level maintenance, fit of new equipment upgrades (namely a brand new sonar fit that will make GMBY the most advanced in the fleet) and a full new paint job to boot.
Since her last refit over 5 years ago, Grimsby has travelled over 43,000 miles, had 7 different crews and visited over 18 different countries including Portugal, Morroco, Spain, Algeria, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Malta, Germany, France, Norway, Denmark, Poland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Finland and Sweden through countless exercises and 1000s of hours of MCM Operations.
MCM1 Crew 6 have operated Grimsby for the past year through a very busy operational and generating period which has included DCT, a full NATO deployment in the Baltic Sea, RTA, Exercise Joint Warrior and OST.
During this time the crew have formed a close bond with Grimsby and are understandably sad to depart.
MCM1 Crew 6 will now proceed on pre-deployment leave before completing an OP KIPION deployment that will last into 2018.
MCM 1 Crew 3 will prepare the ship materially for refit over the next two months ensuring she is delivered to Babcock in the correct state.
Once out of refit in the coming year she will begin her cycle again with a no doubt busy routine, the pace of which will last almost entirely until her next refit in 5 years time.
