A warship is to fly the flag from its home town as it sails back from the Gulf - thanks to its local newspaper.

The Grimsby Telegraph teamed up with the local council to send a flag of the town's crest to HMS Grimsby.

Reporter Philip Norton handed over the depiction of three wild boars and black chevron to Lt-Cmdr Paul Brown on behalf of the town after joining the minehunter at Abu Dhabi as it started its journey back to Portsmouth.

The flag (below) will be raised as it sails into its next destination - which cannot be revealed for security reasons.

Philip is sending back a diary of life on board since he joined after an eight-hour flight to the Emirates, where on arrival, the heat took his breath away.

He began to find out what life has been like for the 39 crew who have been away from home for five months. They will be sailing for a further seven weeks before returning to the shores of southern England.

He reported his first impressions, saying: "She really is an amazing vessel.

"The amount of machinery, technology and sophisticated equipment packed into just 52.7m of ship is incredible.

"Her guns were mounted and ready to fire - she is still in the theatre of operations."

He said there was still a threat from enemy forces, with a ring of steel containers around the boat to prevent possible terrorist attacks.

Once away from port, he also reported on a state of high alert, when three speedboats appeared to be heading straight for the ship.

He said: "They were rapidly closing in on us. Gunners took up their positions on both sides of the ship and at the rear, while the larger 30mm close-range gun was also armed and ready to fire.

"I watched nervously as they continued to head towards us. There were three white speedboats travelling at about 30 knots with orange and red stripes down the side.

"There was every possibility that they were terrorists. Such an approach by these vessels is always considered a severe threat - they may be filled with high explosives such were used in the devastating attack on USS Cole.

"Despite being very worrying, it was also exhilarating - I never thought I would experience such a high state of alert and be involved in such a situation. We watched anxiously as they passed us, crossed over our wake and travelled away into the distance.

"The people onboard were thought to be armed with AK47 assault rifles and were possibly smugglers. I was later told that HMS Grimsby was just seconds away from being forced to fire her weapons."

His diary continues in the Telegraph.

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