HMS Shoreham pays farewell visit to namesake town
Her 20-year career is coming to an end
The HMS Shoreham is back home this morning for the final time as her 20-year career comes to an end.
As a show of appreciation, members of the public will gather from 10:45am to pay respects to the 41 men and women who've taken the town's name around the world on front-line operations for the past 20 years.
There'll also be a ceremony and parade in front of the Shoreham Centre to return the Scroll granting them Honorary Freedom of Shoreham-by-Sea to Adur Council for safekeeping.
The borough’s highest honour was granted upon the ship in 2011.
“It is a real privilege to bring HMS Shoreham back to her home town where she was first commissioned – and to hand-back the Freedom of the Borough awarded in 2011 ahead of the Ship’s decommissioning later this year,” said the final Commanding Officer Lieutenant Commander Andrew Platt.
“Over her 20 years of service – with nearly half of these spent deployed in the Gulf, HMS Shoreham’s strong maritime links with our hometown have been of great support to a generation of sailors – and it is right that we express our thanks to Shoreham-by-Sea during this visit.”