Hundreds gather as HMS Portland returns home

Hundreds of people are expected to welcome HMS Portland home to Devonport when it docks this morning.

The Royal Navy frigate has been on deployment for nine months, mainly on security and defence duty.

It's travelled over 40,000 miles through the North Atlantic, Mediterranean and Indian, Pacific and South Atlantic oceans.

Alongside HMS Portland, one of the British military's most famous aircrafts will make its final flight today.

The Lynx MK8 helicopter is returning home to RNAS Yeovilton from a nine month deployment.

It goes out of service at the end of March after 41 years of use in all major conflicts the UK has been involved in.

The crew also took time out to help orphans in Sierra Leone.

They'll now go on leave while the ship undergoes an extensive upgrade to receive new radars, engines and the new cutting-edge Sea Ceptor missile system.

HMS Portland is one of 13 Type 23, Duke Class frigates serving in the Royal Navy.

It's equipped with an extensive array of modern weapons, sensors, and a helicopter and boats, and can undertake a variety of operations ranging from high-intensity fighting, to maritime security, to peace operations, to humanitarian aid and disaster relief and international defence diplomacy.