BLYTH Spirit - the Sandown Class Minecountermeasure BLYTH made a recent visit the Northern French port of Rouen making the six and a half hour transit up the River Seine to the historic capital of Normandy.    A staggering 25,000 people came onboard when the ship opened to visitors – the BLYTH was there to take part in a five yearly gathering of vessels from around the world known as the “Rouen de Armada”, a ten day event, which attracted over 50 tall ships, as well as modern warships.

But before arriving at Rouen the BLYTH performed a more sombre duty, stopping off Port en Bessin where a shore party from the vessel attended the commemorations of 47 Commando’s D-Day assault - on the 7^th June 1944, 47 Commando successfully took on the vital mission of securing the town which linked the American and British beach heads.