HMS York Returns Home For Last Time

Royal Navy warship HMS York returns to her home port of Portsmouth on Thursday (20/9) for the last time as her 27-year career comes to an end.

The Type 42 destroyer has clocked up 750,000 miles protecting the nation's interests across the globe. 

The Navy's ageing fleet of 42s is making way for the new-generation Type 45 destroyers which are among the most powerful warships in the world. 

The last of the Navy's Type 42s, York was built by Swan Hunter at Wallsend and launched on June 20 1982. 

She was commissioned into the RN fleet in 1985 and her first deployment was to the far east in 1986-87. 

She was sent on operations to the Gulf four times in the 1990s and saw front-line action in 2003 when she provided air cover to aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal during the invasion of Iraq. 

In 2006 she joined sister ship HMS Gloucester in evacuating British nationals from Beirut during the Israel-Lebanon conflict, ferrying evacuees to Cyprus.