ONE of Britain's smallest warships returned home yesterday having played a crucial role in the war in Iraq.

HMS Roebuck, a 1,300-tonne survey ship with a crew of only 53, was welcomed by a tug spraying a plume of water, a Royal Marines band, a dockside guard of honour, and banners, balloons and flags brought by about 150 family and friends.

The survey work carried out by HMS Roebuck helped speed up the initial landings because aircraft carriers were able to operate further north in the Gulf as a result.

Wren Amy Elliott, from Stanley, County Durham, was welcomed home to Devonport by her parents, John and Judith, and other family members with messages on a banner, T- shirts and the white van they travelled in.

Amy said: ''We are very proud of the work we have done. It was hard, but it is excellent to be back."

Hydrographic charts of the seabed compiled aboard the vessel were used to plan the military operation.

In less than six weeks, HMS Roebuck surveyed the Allied Forces' main amphibious operating area - larger than Hampshire.

As each area was surveyed, a new set of charts was printed on board and distributed to Coalition ships.

The vessel left Devonport in November for a three-and-a-half-month survey in the southern Arabian Gulf, but was sent to the northern Gulf in early December because of the rising tensions.