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The carriers as well as newly-returned HMS Defender in Portsmouth today
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HMS Queen Elizabeth (R08) operating off the southeast coast with her escorting destroyer HMS Dragon (D35), Oct. 2019.
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Working with SNMCMG1 HMS Grimsby destroyed a WWII mine found in Seine Bay, off Normandy
Grimsby is currently assigned to NATO’s Mine Countermeasures Group 1 alongside flagship FGS Donau, BNS Bellis, HNLMS Willemstad, HNoMS Otra.
Earlier this month, Grimsby located 18 pieces of unexploded ordnance – 15 British mines, three British bombs – in the approaches to Oslo as part of a concerted effort by the NATO group.
The locations in which the 38 wartime munitions discovered in total were found meant they could not be blown up, even in controlled explosions, so all the minehunter teams could do was mark their locations and inform the Norwegian authorities.
There were no such issues as the group shifted to the Seine Bay – between the Cherbourg peninsula and Le Havre – where 5,000 Allied warships mustered in June 1944 to liberate France… and the Germans tried to stop them.
The waters were heavily mined and bombed – by both sides – during the six years of conflict between 1939 and 1945 and although thoroughly swept and cleared down the decades, wartime ordnance continues to be found; roughly one in three mines laid in World War 2 remain unaccounted for.
There is at least one fewer sea mine in the Seine Bay thanks to Grimsby’s efforts – one of several munitions located by the NATO force and neutralised and the threat to fishermen removed.
Grimsby’s clearance divers plunged into the chilly waters (just 4°C) and placed a charge on the mine, then fell back a safe distance and detonated it – triggering the explosive in the aged ordnance, and throwing up a huge fountain in an otherwise calm sea.
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HMS Audacious, the fourth of seven Astute-class submarines of the Royal Navy, has arrived at her new home at HM Naval Base Clyde.

The new submarine and her 98-strong crew arrived at the Naval Base in Argyll and Bute on April 7, flying the White Ensign after sailing from BAE Systems in Barrow-in-Furness.

“It is with great excitement that we welcome HMS Audacious to the Clyde, joining her three sister submarines,” said Commodore Jim Perks OBE, Head of the Submarine Service.

HMS Audacious will join sister-submarines HMS Astute, HMS Ambush and HMS Artful which are already in-service and operating from Faslane. A further three boats – named Anson, Agamemnon and Agincourt – are currently under construction at BAE in Barrow.

HMS Audacious’ crew will now embark on shore training before eventually undertaking the next period of sea trials.
The 97-metre Astute-class vessels are among the most sophisticated submarines ever constructed for the Royal Navy. Equipped with advanced sensors, the Astute-class carry both Tomahawk Land Attack Cruise Missiles (TLAM) and Spearfish heavyweight torpedoes.

The 7,400-tonne boats can circumnavigate the globe submerged, producing their own oxygen and drinking water.

Officially named in December 2016, HMS Audacious was launched in April 2017 and conducted her first dive in January 2018.
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https://navaltoday.com/2020/04/08/hms-audacious-reaches-home-base/
 
French fleet scuttling at Toulon, Nov 28, 1942. Left to right: Battleship Strasbourg; heavy cruiser Colbert aflame; heavy cruiser Algerie; and light cruiser Marseillaise capsized.
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