After a rather dramatic entrance into West India Dock, there was a prolonged wait for the HMS St Albans  to enter the inner dock.

Photo Eric Pemberton

The Royal Marines in their boats were first into the dock before slowly the Royal Navy ship made its way into the dock.

HMS St Albans, the 16th and last of the Royal Navy’s Type 23 frigates to be built, was launched on 6 May 2000. Constructed by BAE Systems at Scotstoun, she was delivered to the Royal Navy in November 2001. She is based in Portsmouth. The St Albans has a length of  133 m (436 ft 4 in) , Beam: 16.1 m (52 ft 10 in) , Draught: 7.3 m (23 ft 9 in) with a crew of  around 185 .

The ship has had an interesting history, in 2006, she picked up 243 evacuees from the dock in Beirut and safely transported them to Cyprus.

Like many Royal Navy ships she has been deployed around the world included supporting international efforts in tackling piracy, illegal trafficking, and smuggling.
In May 2013 she was handed over to BAe Systems for her refit in Portsmouth Harbour, where she remained until 2014. After  intense trials she rejoined the fleet.
More recently she has undergone trials in the Western English Channel and visited  Norway for live firing trials.

Photo Eric Pemberton

The St Albans is in West India Dock for 8 days and will be open to the public on Saturday 11th.  The visit is Free but tickets are only available from the Eventbrite website here

Some residents of the dock having a closer look