Navy ship 'back from the dead' receives wartime paint

HMS Severn was brought back into service on Monday having been decommissioned in 2017

A Royal Navy patrol ship has received a blue and green "camouflage" paint scheme.

HMS Severn is the third of the navy's ships to have an unusual paint job after HMS Tamar and HMS Spey.

The green, blue, grey and white design is known as the Western Approaches scheme and was used to help ships evade German U-boats in World War Two.

HMS Severn is the first ship to receive the paint scheme, applied at Falmouth Docks, since 1945.

The navy said it is a tribute to the sailors of the Battle of the Atlantic who operated in the same waters.

Radar makes the use of maritime camouflage largely irrelevant but the navy said the paint job is a tribute to former sailors

HMS Severn was due to be replaced by a new patrol ship after being decommissioned in 2017, but the government changed its plans 2018.

It is the first time a Royal Navy vessel has been brought back into service since the Falklands conflict in 1982.

The ship sailed to London to rejoin the Royal Navy's fleet

Commander Philip Harper, Commanding Officer HMS Severn, said: "Bringing Severn back from the dead has been an amazing experience and commissioning here alongside HMS Belfast [retired WW2 Royal Navy warship], with both of us in our World War Two camouflage, is the culmination of 18 months of hard work and dedication."

HMS Severn's primary role in her second life is a combination of navigation training, protection of UK waters and fishery protection.

HMS Tamar and HMS Spey both received World War One "dazzle" paint schemes at Falmouth Docks earlier this year.