a Naval retrospective

● HMS Chatham’s Lynx is caught in the glare of the Gulf sun in June. Chatham was on Allied task group duties through the middle part of 2008

● HMS Gloucester turns at speed during Staff College Sea Days off Plymouth in October

● New Type 45 destroyer Dauntless sails from Faslane after a fl eeting visit to the base in December.

Picture: PO(Phot) Tam McDonald

Picture: LA(Phot) Chris Winter

● Remembrance Sunday on Plymouth Hoe – this year the nation marked the 90th anniversary of the end of World War 1

Picture: LA(Phot) Chris Winter

Picture: LA(Phot) Des Wade

● A moment’s respite as the Naval Strike Wing works up on board HMS Illustrious in April

● A Harrier drops fl ares as it roars pasHMS Illustrious during the Orion 0deployment in April

● (Left) AET Paul Constable is winched on to HMS Kent by Lynx during the Volans 08 deployment to the Far East in September

Picture: LA(Phot) Owen King

● Front page: HMS Lancaster’s Merlin 501 breaks away from the Khawr Abd Amayah oil terminal as she conducts rapid roping approaches in the northern Gulf in November Picture: LA(Phot) Brian Douglas

● HMS Shoreham works up on the Gareloch near Faslane in February

st 08

Picture: LLogs (CS) Stu Hill

● HMS Campbeltown guards an Iraqi oil platform in the northern Gulf in March

Picture: LA(Phot) Chris Winter

● HMS Ark Royal on the Clyde during Exercise Joint Warrior in October

Picture: LA(Phot) Gregg Macready

● HMS Nottingham off South Georgia in February during her stint on Atlantic Patrol Tasking (South)

Picture: LA(Phot) Alex Cave

● RFA Wave Ruler and HMS Iron Duke carry out a replenishment at sea in the Caribbean in August Picture: LA(Phot) Jay Allen

● HMS Victorious returns to Faslane in July after a three-year overhaul in Devonport

Picture: PO(Phot) Mez Merrill

● LLogs Ruth Lee and Mne Michael Travis, from HMS Endurance, make the acquaintance of an adélie penguin near the British Antarctic Research base at Rothera in February

Picture: LA(Phot) Kelly Whybrow

● Royal Marines storm across the Clyde in January in an ORC, one of the new offshore raiding craft used to escort submarines in and out of Faslane

Picture: PO(Phot) Tam McDonald

● Royal Marines of 42 Cdo begin their fi rst operation of Herrick 9 in Afghanistan in November with the help of a Chinook, setting out as part of an international force to disrupt the Taleban in Kandahar Picture: LA(Phot) Gaz Faulkner

● Royal Marines from the HMS Endurance detachment complete a four-day walk across South Georgia in December, following the route Shackleton took more than 90 years before

Picture: LA(Phot) Kaz Williams

● One of HMS Bulwark’s landing craft disgorges a BV 206D amphibious transport at Harstad in Norway during Exercise Armatura Borealis in March

● Royal Marines of 42 Commando on deployment in Kandahar province in December. Operation Janubi Tapu was designed to clear Taleban strongholds of danger, allowing locals to start rebuilding their lives. 42 Cdo offi cially took over duties in Afghanistan in September, their colleagues from 45 Cdo fl ew out for their third tour of duty shortly afterwards

Picture: LA(Phot) Gaz Faulkner