Royal Navy frigate HMS Montrose flexes guns on Norwegian range

Royal Navy’s Type 23 frigate HMS Montrose recently visited the NATO weapon and sensor range at Stavanger, in southern Norway, for a week of weapons and sensors checks.

The ship arrived for a weekend alongside in Stavanger and after a day of harbour checks, went to sea on the test range for 3 days, with the aim of the process to provide objective checks of the accuracy and effectiveness of the ship’s weapons, sensors and navigation equipment.

The program included static and dynamic ranging, along with anti-ship missile defense, anti-submarine warfare and anti surface warfare serials, focusing on ensuring that every bit of her capability, fresh from an extensive refit last year, was sufficient to support the ship’s future tasking.

This NATO range is well used by UK and alliance units – sister ships HMS Somerset and HMS Sutherland used it late last year, and it is often used by members of Standing NATO Maritime Group (SNMG) 1 and 2 to conduct trials on their sensors.

“It’s great to take the ship out of UK waters and enjoy the challenge of navigating through the beautiful Norwegian fjords,” the ship’s navigator Lieutenant Byron Linn said.

While HMS Montrose was alongside in Stavanger, the commanding officer – Cdr Conor O’Neill, took the opportunity to meet the deputy mayor of Stavanger – Bjorg Tysdal Mo and the harbor master – Maritime Chief Trond Andersen.