Royal Navy’s Type 45 destroyer HMS Defender flexed muscles through a gruelling 6 week pre-deployment Operational Sea Training (OST) package to achieve the Navy’s ‘gold’ standard.
As one of the Royal Navy’s most capable ships, Defender proved her worth across the full spectrum of war fighting capability.
During her time with Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) Defender was subjected to rigorous training scenarios that saw off attacks from fighter jets, submarines, surface enemies, pirates and a host of small boat threats.
Outside of the traditional war fighting arena, she also carried out a non combatant evacuation operation, boarding operations, survived a chemical attack and successfully dealt with severe internal damage simulations.
The ship will now return to Portsmouth for a short maintenance period and before deploying on operations.
Image: Royal Navy