Operational History
The ship was accepted into service by the Royal Navy on 15 December 2000 and was commissioned on 3 May the following year. Present at the commissioning ceremony was Portland's sponsor Lady Brigstoke, wife of Admiral Sir John Brigstoke, a former Second Sea Lord, who had also launched the ship in 1999.
During sea trials Portland attained a top speed of 30.8 knots (57.0 km/h), the fastest speed attained by any Type 23 frigate.
Portland assisted in the search for men lost from a capsized yacht on 3 February 2007.
She was deployed to the Caribbean for seven months in 2007, intercepting 3.5 tonnes of cocaine in cooperation with a United States Coast Guard Law Enforcement Detachment (LEDET) and conducting disaster relief in Belize following Hurricane Dean.
In April 2008, Portland visited Liverpool with HMS Mersey and berthed at the cruise liner terminal at Princes Dock.
In June 2009 while taking part in anti-piracy operations off the Horn of Africa, Portland intercepted ten pirates. However, as they were not caught in the immediate act of piracy the vessel was unable legally to detain them.
In late April 2010, Portland relieved HMS York on the Atlantic Patrol Task (South).
June 2011 saw Portland conducting night Naval Gunnery practice off Gibraltar in the Mediterranean. Towards the end of the month she sailed to Edinburgh to take part in Armed Forces Day. She is the first major warship in the Royal Navy to be commanded by a woman; Lieutenant-Commander Sarah West assumed command of HMS Portland on 21 May 2012.
Read more about this topic: HMS Portland (F79)
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