Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence which Royal Navy ships are deployed on operations at sea; where each is deployed; and what the purpose is of each such deployment. [41877]

Nick Harvey MP; Minister for the Armed Forces: The Royal Navy ships deployed on operations, their mission and where they are deployed as at 16 February 2011 are as follows:

Op Telic
Maintenance of integrity and security of Iraqi Territorial Seas.

HMS Iron Duke

HMS Chiddingfold

HMS Grimsby

HMS Pembroke

HMS Middleton

RFA Lyme Bay

Arabian Gulf Tanker
Replenishment of coalition units in the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden and North Indian Ocean.

RFA Bay leaf

Op Calash
Counter Piracy and counter smuggling operations within the Arabian Sea, Gulf of Aden, and North Indian Ocean.

HMS Cornwall

RFA Diligence

RFA Fort Victoria

Op Atalanta
NATO Counter Piracy and counter smuggling operations within the Arabian sea, Gulf of Aden, and North Indian Ocean.

HMS Richmond

Gibraltar Patrol
The Security of Gibraltar Territorial Seas.

HMS Sabre

HMS Scimitar

Standing NATO Mine Counter Measures Maritime Group 1
A continuous maritime capability for mine-countermeasures integration within NATO Response Force (NRF) operations, non NRF operations and other activities in peacetime and periods of crisis and conflict.

HMS Brocklesby

Atlantic Patrol Tasking (North)
UK's maritime contribution to the Caribbean and North Atlantic area. Protection of UK interests, humanitarian role in response to the natural disasters, especially hurricanes, which are prevalent in this region.

RFA Wave Ruler

Atlantic Patrol Tasking (South)
The standing naval commitment to the South Atlantic and West African regions. Provide a maritime presence to protect the British sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, including South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and UK's interests in the region.

HMS Gloucester

RFA Black Rover

Falkland Island Patrol Ship
Permanently stationed in the region, responsible for maintaining British sovereignty of the Falkland Islands, including South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands.

HMS Clyde

Fishery Protection
Patrolling UK's extended Fisheries Zone.

HMS Tyne

HMS Severn

HMS Mersey

Survey Operations
Survey operations throughout the world using the latest techniques to provide information for Admiralty charts and nautical publications and in particular updating the charts covering the waters around the United Kingdom.

HMS Enterprise-Gulf

HMS Echo-Gulf

HMS Scott-Falklands/South Atlantic

UK Contingency Operations
Royal Navy Maritime Security units at readiness to react to any possible threat to the integrity of UK Territorial Seas and security of the UK.

HMS Westminster

HMS Campbeltown

HMS Portland

HMS Ramsey

HMS Hurworth