Royal Navy's HMS York makes final Portsmouth return

HMS York was launched in 1982 and accepted into service in 1985

The Royal Navy's HMS York will make its final return to its home port of Portsmouth later.

The Type-42 destroyer, which has travelled 750,000 nautical miles, has served the country for 27 years.

The ship will be decommissioned on 27 September and replaced by the new Type-45 class.

Commanding officer, Cdr Rex Cox, said it had been "an absolute privilege" to command the ship during its final 12 months of service.

Conducting evacuations

Built in 1982 by Swan Hunter at Wallsend, Northumberland, HMS York was commissioned in 1985 and was first deployed to the far east in 1986.

It also took part in operations to the Gulf in the 1990s and assisted HMS Ark Royal during the invasion of Iraq in 2003.

HMS York was also involved in conducting evacuations from Beirut in the 2006 Lebanon conflict, and Benghazi during the 2011 Libyan uprising.

The vessel left Portsmouth for the final time at the beginning of September for Brest in France and Hull in East Yorkshire.

HMS York is affiliated with the city of York and its crew took part in a series of parades and other events to mark its departure from service.

HMS York and HMS Edinburgh have been listed for sale on a Ministry of Defence website.

The ships are being sold as part of the government's Strategic Defence Review announced in 2010, which will see the Royal Navy's surface fleet cut from 23 to 19 ships.

HMS Edinburgh will be the last Type-42 to leave service and makes its final deployment on Monday.

Source: BBC, UK.