A WARSHIP carrying stranded tourists and soldiers has docked safely in Hampshire this evening.
HMS Albion arrived after a 30 hour journey having picked up more than 280 civilians and 440 troops from Santander, Spain on a rescue mission.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown ordered the 18,500-tonne warship to help bring the armed forces personnel home after they got stuck as they returned from operations in Afghanistan.
Aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal and helicopter carrier HMS Ocean have also been deployed to assist in returning stranded Britons to the UK.
The troops who returned on board Albion included medics from 33 Field Hospital based in Gosport.
Caught up in the disruption caused by the Icelandic volcanic ash cloud that grounded flights across northern Europe, they flew first to Cyprus, where they had to wait before flying on to Spain to be picked up by Albion.
Among the civilians on board Albion were a group of teenage boys on a football tour and Stanley Johnson, the father of London Mayor Boris Johnson, who was held up returning from a trip to the Galapagos Islands.
The members of the public who were brought back on Albion were chosen as being among the ''most vulnerable stranded British citizens'' in Spain.
The civilians have been sharing navy rations with the troops on board, which have included fish and chips and curry.
Albion's executive officer, Commander John Gardner, said: ''We have spent the past six months training for whatever operations might come our way and the ship is well prepared for just this eventuality.
''We are delighted to be returning the soldiers, airmen and medics, who have endured an arduous past six months, to their families.''
''That we can support the repatriation of those stranded abroad as well is a bonus.''
On arrival at Portsmouth, the civilians were taken by bus to the city's transport hub where they were met by Salvation Army and St John Ambulance volunteers to assist them with their onward travel.
A navy spokesman said Albion was purpose-built to support embarked troops but normally on a smaller scale than the numbers being brought back from Spain.
The spokesman said: ''This was no small task, the provision of extra hundreds of spaces for sleeping and the associated additional meals required was testing for the ship.
''On this occasion, the ship was not carrying her full complement of landing craft, which meant that the extra space could be used for accommodating some of the personnel embarked at Santander.''
HMS Albion is a Landing Platform Dock (LPD) whose normal role is to provide a floating headquarters for the Commander Amphibious Task Group and its staff alongside the commander and staff of 3 Commando Brigade Royal Marines.
In addition to its normal complement of 350 sailors and Royal Marines, the ship has accommodation for up to 150 embarked military force as well as more than 70 vehicles, stores and equipment.
In normal circumstances the troops are disembarked using the ship's landing craft, four of which operate from a large internal dock.
The ship also has a large flight deck which can operate a wide range of helicopters including the Chinook.
