Scotland’s first autonomous minehunting “mothership” was officially welcomed into its fleet in a service attended by the Duke of Edinburgh.

The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) Stirling Castle was dedicated while docked at Forth Ports in Leith, Edinburgh, on Thursday morning.

Witnessed by Edward the 6,000-tonne ship is to “further safeguard the UK’s minehunting capabilities”.

The vessel, which was formerly known as the MV Island Crown, underwent conversion at HM Naval Base Devonport to become the mothership it is today.

Crew members and dignitaries welcomed the duke as he boarded the ship with a salute, before the dedication ceremony began.

RFA Stirling Castle has a crew of 27 people, some of whom will be responsible for operating a suite of Autonomous Surface Vessels (ASVs) and Uncrewed Water Vehicles (UUVs) which can seek and destroy underwater mines.

RFA Stirling Castle
Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship, RFA Stirling Castle, in Leith (Jane Barlow/PA)

This means there is less risk to crew members, who traditionally would have had to scout for mines themselves.

The ship’s commanding officer, Captain Duncan Vernoum, said the vessel is a “completely different concept”, and is the “first RFA in Scotland of its kind”.

He added: “We are the first (ship) that’s dedicated to actually supporting in a minehunting capacity”.

RFA Stirling Castle
Commanding Officer Captain Duncan Vernoum on the bridge ahead of the Service of Dedication (Jane Barlow/PA)

He added: “From our perspective, and from the Navy’s perspective, we have improved their minehunting capability.

“We now have a mothership, if you like, for minehunting capability, and for future minehunting capability.

“So a lot of the role the ship will be playing is the carriage and operation of autonomous vessels, so underwater RAVs, things like that, that we can actually put down without risking manpower to actually go to a mine clearance or to investigate mines in an area, so obviously that reduces the risk to other people.

“We act as a test bed for the navy as well, so effectively, we can operate vehicles from here, see how well they operate in various conditions and then recover them as well.”

RFA Stirling Castle
Prince Edward, the Duke of Edinburgh, alongside Commanding Officer Captain Duncan Vernoum (left) and Commodore David Eagles (centre) salute the ship’s ensign during the Service of Dedication (Jane Barlow/PA)

Carl Edwards a third officer of the ship, said: “It’s a pleasure to be up this end of Scotland, especially so near to Stirling Castle itself.

“We are looking forward to furthering those ties and hope to be up this end for the foreseeable future, working with both the locals and the Royal Navy, to further safeguard the UK’s minehunting capabilities”.

He added: “It’s a good, happy crew, we’ve very proud of the ship and where we’ve got to so far.”