A WARSHIP is hoping to strengthen its ties to an adopted town by recruiting local youngsters into the Royal Navy.
The frigate HMS Marlborough was one of the first warships to deploy in the second invasion of Iraq and one of the last to leave.
Marlborough's visit to its "home" port of Middlesbrough, beginning yesterday, was the ship's first for more than a year.
Commanding Officer Captain Mark Anderson said: "Our visit here in Middlesbrough provides a much valued opportunity to reaffirm the long friendship that exists between town and ship and we are very much looking forward to our stay.''
The ship, anchored at the Heavy Lift Quay at the Tees Offshore Base, stages an open afternoon for the public on its upper deck tomorrow afternoon.
On Monday, catering students from Middlesbrough College will spend the day working with Navy chefs to provide lunch for the 185 crew. Other students from the same college and from Hartlepool College of Further Education will take part in a simulated sea warfare exercise in the ship's operations room.
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