The Royal Australian Navy (RAN) has already set sail on its mammoth journey for the Trafalgar 200 events being held this summer in Portsmouth.

HMAS Anzac left from the Port of Albany on the western coast of Australia on the 11th March under the command of Captain Richard Menhinick. On her journey to the UK she will initially retrace the route of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps personnel who left their homeland to fight during the First World War. As part of the commemorations for the 90th Anniversary of the battle of Gallipoli the ship will anchor off the coast at Anzac Cove, before continuing her journey to the International Fleet Review being held on the 28th of June in the presence of Her Majesty the Queen.

HMAS Anzac was commissioned in 1996 and is the first of the Royal Australian Navy’s eight new ANZAC class frigates, a long-range escort capable of countering air, surface and sub-surface threats. She is the third ship in the RAN to proudly bear the famous name of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps and has a crew of 183 including 8 members of the Royal Australian Navy Band. The current HMAS Anzac recently saw action in Iraq in support of the Royal Marines.

The Royal Navy will be celebrating the Trafalgar bicentennial year with a series of events to be held this summer and autumn. This programme is part of SeaBritain 2005 and full details are on Trafalgar 200

Summer events conclude with the 4-day International Festival of the Sea in Portsmouth Naval Base, 30 June �?3 July. Tickets can be purchased at The Festival of the Sea or via the ticket hotline 0870 013 4030.