AFTER months away from home, HMS Southampton drew up along side the historic warship HMS Victory this morning.

The city's Type 42 destroyer returned to Portsmouth following a three-month deployment to the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

As she sailed into her home port she was assigned the Victory Berth at the naval base, next to Lord Nelson's famous flagship.

As HMS Southampton passed the round tower at the entrance to the harbour, she sounded her siren as a greeting to the friends and family waving flags in greeting.

Among those on board were Lord Lieutenant of Hampshire Mrs Mary Fagan and Southampton mayor Brian Parnell.

Also returning was Marine Engineering Mechanic Alex Tilbury, 27, from Fareham, who was greeted by his wife of four months, Zoe.

"It's fantastic to be home," said MEM Tilbury. "But it's harder going away now that we're married."

For commanding officer Commander Gary Doyle it was his final spell on the bridge as he now leaves for a job in Whitehall. He said: "It's been a varied and interesting deployment from an operational point of view."

This autumn HMS Southampton, which was built in Woolston, Southampton, by Vosper Thornycroft, took part in a multinational exercise in the Mediterranean in which she acted as the defence escort to the Royal Navy flagship HMS Ark Royal.

She then spent a month in the Black Sea paying goodwill visits to Russia, Bulgaria and Romania.

After Christmas leave, the ship will spend time alongside in Portsmouth following a hectic year which saw her take part in the war against terrorism in the Arabian Gulf.