WARSHIPS
Nicholas Soames: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many naval ships are at sea on duty; on what tasks; and where. [190197]
Mr Francois, Minister of State for the Armed Forces: As at 5 March 2014 there are a total of 32 Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships on duty and at sea with a further nine ships generating for tasking. The taskings and locations are shown in the following table:
| Tasking | Location | Number of ships |
| Deployed Overseas | ||
| Maritime Security Operations | Middle East | 10 |
| Chemicals (escorting removal from Syria) | Mediterranean | 1 |
| Maritime Security Operations | Gibraltar | 2 |
| Standing NATO Mine Counter Measures Maritime Group 1 | Mediterranean | 1 |
| Atlantic Patrol Tasking (North) | Caribbean | 1 |
| Atlantic Patrol Tasking (South) | West Africa | 2 |
| Antarctic Survey | Antarctic | 1 |
| Falkland Island Patrol Ship | Falkland Islands, South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands | 1 |
| Transiting back to UK | Gibraltar | 1 |
| UK Operations | ||
| UK Contingency Operations | UK waters | 12 |
This response excludes submarines as the release of this information would, or would be likely to, prejudice the capability, effectiveness or security of our armed forces.