HMS Somerset will be in Malta between tomorrow and Monday.

The Type 23 Frigate is on its way back to the UK following a six-month deployment providing security to the Iraqi offshore oil infrastructure, vital to the Iraqi economy and the reconstruction effort of the coalition campaign, as well as conducting maritime security operations in the Arabian Gulf and counter piracy operations off the Horn of Africa.

Somerset sailed at the end of May from Plymouth, UK, for it entered the Gulf of Suez in mid–June where she immediately provided a contribution to Combined Task Force (CTF) 150.

This is a coalition task force created in 2002 to counter terrorism, smuggling and proliferation of Weapons of Mass Destruction within the Middle East, across an area of over 2.4 million nautical square miles. Another key aim for CTF 150 is providing a stable and secure maritime environment for the protection of merchant shipping and maintaining the viability of sea-lanes in an area where 33,000 shipping movements take place and some 50 per cent of the world’s oil and gas passes through each year.

Somerset has actively conducted wider regional engagement with five Gulf states (Bahrain, Qatar, Kuwait, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates), to develop and strengthen bilateral relationships and actively demonstrate the UK’s commitment to the region’s enduring stability and prosperity.

In 2007 the ship underwent a multi-million pound refit and is one of the most modern and capable warships in the fleet.

In Malta, it will be berthed at Pinto Wharf. It will not be open to the public.