Type 23 frigate HMS Monmouth cuts through the English Channel on her way to a deployment in the Middle East.

The 13 Type 23 or Duke-class frigates are the core of the front-line Fleet. They can typically be found east of Suez, safeguarding Britain's vital maritime trade routes or Britain's interests in the South Atlantic.

Based in Portsmouth and Devonport, the ships were designed to deal with the Soviet submarine threat but in the 20 years since the fall of Communism, the frigates have proven their versatility by dealing with virtually every mission imaginable in the four corners of the globe - as well as maintaining that original mission of submarine hunting, aided by the world's finest sonar and either a Merlin or Lynx helicopter.

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