HMS Edinburgh Makes Final Return Home 31.05.13
26HMS Edinburgh -- the Royal Navy's last remaining Type 42 destroyer -- returned to her home port of Portsmouth for the final time today.
The 30-year-old warship, which has clocked up almost 800,000 miles, decommissions on June 6 as the Type 42s make way for the next-generation Type 45s.
Edinburgh has just completed a month-long farewell tour of the UK which included visits to her namesake city and Liverpool where she was built. She also stopped off in London where she played a part in events to mark the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Atlantic.
In keeping with Navy tradition the ship was flying a decommissioning pennant on her final return and was accompanied by HMS Defender - one of the Navy's successor Type 45s.
Edinburgh fired a 21-gun salute as she approached the harbour and the saluting gun at Fort Blockhouse, Gosport, responded in a similar fashion.
The entry was also marked with a flypast by a Sea Fury of the RN Historic Flight plus a modern-day Lynx helicopter.
Edinburgh's Commanding Officer, Commander Nick Borbone, said: "After the success of her final operational deployment in March, this has been a fitting finale to an illustrious career for HMS Edinburgh."