{"id":4124,"date":"2012-03-20T13:02:31","date_gmt":"2012-03-20T12:02:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatsonni.com\/news\/?p=4124"},"modified":"2012-03-20T13:02:31","modified_gmt":"2012-03-20T12:02:31","slug":"our-namesake-ship-returns-to-bangor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/2012\/03\/our-namesake-ship-returns-to-bangor\/","title":{"rendered":"Our Namesake Ship Returns to Bangor!"},"content":{"rendered":"

After its recent deployment to Libya, HMS Bangor is returning to The Eisenhower Pier on Thursday April 5th<\/sup> for the start of a five day visit.<\/h1>\n
\"\"<\/a>
HMS Bangor which will be returning to Bangor on April 5th for a five day visit. The ship will be open to the public on Easter Sunday, 8th April and Easter Monday, 9th April.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The weekend\u2019s main events will see HMS Bangor throw down her gangway to welcome the general public from 12 Noon \u2013 5pm on Sunday 8th<\/sup> April and Easter Monday 9th<\/sup> April. Admission to the ship will be free so come along with family and friends to marvel at this wonderful vessel and see close-up, what life is really like onboard. The public will get the chance to see some of the ship\u2019s sophisticated equipment and chat with the crew about their experiences onboard the ship – you might even get to sit in The Captain\u2019s chair!<\/p>\n

HMS Bangor is a 600 tonne Sandown Class Minehunter<\/a> , <\/a>commissioned by the Royal Navy<\/a> and launched by Lady Lisa Spencer in 1999 at Southhampton Docks. She is named after our very own Bangor and is the second Royal Navy vessel to bear the name. She is 52.5m in length and has a max speed of 13 knots.<\/p>\n

HMS Bangor is the first navy ship in over 15 years to be closely affiliated to Northern Ireland and has other official affiliations with the town of Bangor, Bangor Combined Cadet Force and Bangor Grammar School. Named after our very own Bangor, she is also closely affiliated with Clifton Special School, the ship\u2019s adopted charity.<\/p>\n

During the second half of 2011 HMS Bangor was deployed as part of Operation UNIFIED PROTECTOR, operating in the Mediterranean with the NATO task group formed to protect civilians during the civil war in Libya.\u00a0 During this period HMS Bangor located and Countermined 1 ground mine and 1 torpedo, both found on the seabed, left over from previous conflicts in the approaches to one of the civilian ports.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are all very pleased to be returning to Bangor following our live Operations off the coast of Libya. After operating as part of the NATO taskforce charged with protecting civilians we feel privileged to be invited back to Bangor where we are always made very welcome<\/em>\u201d said Commanding Officer Lieutenant Commander Matt Moore.<\/p>\n

Speaking about HMS Bangor\u2019s return to our shores, the Mayor of North Down, Councillor James McKerrow said: \u201cWe are always delighted to welcome HMS Bangor back to North Down waters.\u00a0The ship has recently been deployed to Libya and we are particularly proud of all the brave men and women who served on that campaign.\u00a0 Our connection with HMS Bangor means a lot to local people and I know many will come along and visit the ship on its open days.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

For further information, please phone our Tourist Information Centre on: 028 9127 0069<\/strong> or visit www.northdowntourism.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After its recent deployment to Libya, HMS Bangor is returning to The Eisenhower Pier on Thursday April 5th for the start of a five day visit. The weekend\u2019s main events will see HMS Bangor throw down her gangway to welcome the general public from 12 Noon \u2013 5pm on Sunday 8th April and Easter Monday … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4124"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4124"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4124\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4126,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4124\/revisions\/4126"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatsonni.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}