Under the command of Commander Adrian P. F. Cassar RN, HMS Grafton is expected to pass the breakwater into the Grand Harbour at 10am.

Commander Cassar has visited regularly to see his Maltese cousins but this occasion will be exceptional. “I expect the family to be on the jetty on our arrival – I just hope there’s enough space,” he said. Commander Cassar’s family comes from Paola and his father, Francis, a former Maltese high commissioner

to London, has flown

out especially to be with his son.

Sailors from the ship will be spending some of their free time assisting Fra John Critien in performing maintenance work at Fort St Angelo.

Commissioned into the Royal Navy on 5 November 1994, HMS Grafton formally entered service in 1996 as the eighth ship to bear the name. The ship has a displacement of 4,800 tonnes and a complement of 170. The ship will not be open to the public during her stay.