The Royal Navy’s largest ship has sailed up the River Thames on Friday ahead of a major security exercise in preparation for the Olympic Games.
The 22,000-tonne amphibious assault ship will be stationed near Greenwich Pier during the Olympics and Paralympics.Smaller crafts and patrol boats will accompany the ship as part of the maritime security plan.
The warship is 38 metres wide, and Captain Andrew Betton carefully guided it through “challenging” gaps of just 60 metres. He said the ship would focus on air security over the weekend, with river operations taking place between Tuesday and Thursday next week.
The ship will return to Greenwich in July following air and maritime security exercises.
About 13,500 military personnel will be deployed in London during the Olympics, with HMS Ocean serving as a base for about 1,000 of them including more than 400 marines. A total of 12,500 police officers will also be on duty.
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Defence Secretary Philip Hammond was taken on board Ocean by a landing craft shortly after 9am.
He addressed the ship’s company in the hangar before taking a tour of the vessel.
“There are no specific threats to the Olympic Games but we’re going to have very large numbers of foreign visitors in London,” he said.
“The world’s eyes will be upon us and we want to make absolute sure that we do everything to maintain the security and safety of the Games.
“Ocean’s presence on the Thames, I hope, will be a very great reassurance to people attending the Games.”
General Sir Nick Parker, in charge of the military’s Olympics role, said the security exercise would prepare for the possibility of “extreme threats”.
He said: “What we need to do is make sure we practise against those high-end threats but they are not considered to be likely.
“What I’m doing is testing my systems so I’m reassured that, should they become more likely, we can react.”
He added: “One would want the world to know that we are taking security for the Olympics seriously.
“The Metropolitan Police have asked for our support in certain key areas and we’re taking that support extremely seriously.”