Royal Navy warships await rescue orders
Updated on 20 April 2010
The two Royal Navy warships set to rescue stranded Britons from northern France have yet to be tasked by the prime minister, the Ministry of Defence has confirmed.
The news comes as Gordon Brown gave Britons his guarantee that if they travelled to the Channel ports, they would be able to get home.
"It's important that everybody knows that if they can get to a Channel port we can get them across from Europe to the United Kingdom," he said. "We can guarantee that people will be able to get back."
Brown said commercial ferry seats are available, "alongside the HMS Ocean which will be available to take people across the Channel if necessary and behind that is HMS Ark Royal which could take considerable numbers of people back to Britain."
HMS Ocean and HMS Ark Royal have been given no further instructions since Brown announced a military rescue operation, dispatching a taskforce to the English Channel on Sunday.
Neither warship has been told which Channel port to dock, a spokesman for the MoD confirmed today.
The warships will remain at sea until given further orders. Brown said: "We will lay on extra facilities including HMS Ocean and HMS Ark Royal if these are needed; they are ready and available to help people get back across."
The flagship of the fleet, HMS Ark Royal, is en route to the Channel having aborted training expedition Joint Warrior in northwest Scotland.
HMS Ark Royal is currently operating in the Commando Carrier role, capable of carrying a military force of around 400 Royal Marines or Army servicemen and women, as well as 685 crew and operating Chinook, Lynx, Apache, and Sea King helicopters.
HMS Ocean, which has also abandoned a training exercise, is already in southern waters, the MoD spokesman said today.
The 22,5000 tonne HMS Ocean is capable of carrying a maximum force of 1275 Royal Marines or aircrew, 12 Sea King helicopters, 6 Lynx AH7s and 15 Sea Harriers.
Meanwhile HMS Albion, the third in Gordon Brown's emergency task force, which had been dubbed Gordon’s Armada, arrived in Santander, northern Spain, this morning.
HMS Albion has picked up 250 soldiers from 3rd Battalion The Rifles, members of the RAF and medics, who have been serving in Afghanistan - alongside 200 stranded holidaymakers. It is due to set sail within the next few hours.
The Foreign Office said the "most vulnerable" civilians were chosen to board the ship.
HMS Albion's journey home is expected to take 36 hours and it is likely to dock in Portsmouth, the MoD said.
The government has been criticised for dispatching warships to rescue Britons from France after ferry companies said they had "plenty of spaces" on the Channel crossing.
Brown today encouraged Britons stranded in Asia to head for the "hub airport" of Madrid, where coaches would be available to transport people to the Channel ports.
With parts of UK airspace opening at 7am, Brown said airports were "taking advantage of a window of opportunity being available".
However, indicating further delays may be on the cards, he added: "We know that further volcanic ash will be in the clouds over the next day or two so we are taking advantage of the window of opportunity. So our first priority is that passengers will always be safe when they travel."
Around 100,000 Britons are thought to be still stranded abroad despite the partial lifting of the airspace ban amid the volcanic ash crisis.
