Late last month HMNB Devonport held a couple of open days jointly organised by the Royal Navy and Babcock International Group.

The first was for family and friends of those working on the site and the second for members of the public who, for security reasons, had to be British nationals.

Over the two days around 11,000 people visited and highlights included a visit to HMS Portland, a Type 23 frigate.

There were also seven themed zones: The Royal Navy, The Royal Marines, STEM, Sports, Food which included a Theatre Demo stage and Water and Air displays.

Naval Base Commander Brigadier Mike Tanner said: “It’s the first time we’ve done this for over 20 years and Devonport Naval Base supports all the elements of the Navy.

“Portsmouth focuses largely on the surface ships and the Clyde (Faslane) on the submarines but we support all parts of the service.

“Our primary output is the deep maintainance of our submarine flotilla.

“We also look after the Type 23 frigates, the MCMVs (Mine Countermeasures Vessels), The Royal Marines and the amphibious as well.

“We’re increasingly looking after the autonomous capability and Plymouth has been named as the UKs centre for marine autonomy and we’re creating that space down at the South Yard.

“We do a bit of everything and I often call Devonport the ‘Swiss Army knife of the Royal Navy.’

The size and shape of the Royal Navy has changed enormously throughout its history but Brigadier Tanner told us what is planned over the next few years: “We’ve got two new classes of submarine coming into service right now, The Astute Class and then the Dreadnoughts behind those and then we’ve got two surface ships the Type 31s and the Type 26s so we’ve got some ships and submarines going out and some coming in.

“On top of that we’ve launched our first autonomous submarine, a 12 metre vessel known as XV Excalibur just a couple of months ago.

“Autonomous surface and sub-surface ships are very much a thing of the future.”

The government is planning to increase defence spending rising to 2.5 per cent of GDP by 2027

with a planned further increase to 3 per cent in the next Parliament, something Brigadier Tanner welcomed:

“It’s great news for Devonport and I think it’s understood in Westminster how important Devonport is to the future of the Royal Navy.”

On board HMS Portland which carries out anti-submarine and surface operations I met Charles, an AB engineering technician who described his work: “The work involves firefighter roles and maintaining the ship’s firefighting capability.

“We maintain the ship’s propulsion system, the ship’s auxillary services, look after the diesels and keep the ship running.”

Charles has spent a year in the Navy following in the footsteps of his sister who has served for five.”

HMS Portland will be undertaking Fleet Operational Sea Training meaning sea trials over the next month or so so that it will be fully operational for the next deployment.

Next week we learn about the work of Babcock International Group.