The Indonesian Navy hosted a distinguished visitor from Britain, as the Royal Navy’s most advanced destroyer, HMS Daring, arrived in North Jakarta’s Tanjung Priok Port on Friday for a four-day visit.
“British First Sea Lord Admiral Sir George Zambellas will be on Daring before the ship enters Jakarta. His presence highlights the importance the British government attaches to the visit,” the British Embassy in Jakarta said in its official press release.
British Ambassador to Indonesia Mark Canning concurred.
“HMS Daring is a powerful example of how British innovation and technology positions itself at the heart of the modern world. This visit will provide an opportunity for the Royal Navy to strengthen links with the Indonesian armed forces and to showcase the British defense industry,” he said.
The embassy said the visit would provide the Indonesian Navy a glimpse of the Royal Navy Disaster Relief Operations, including the ship’s role in providing humanitarian relief during Typhoon Haiyan in the Philippines last November, which claimed more than 6,000 lives and left more than $1.5 billion in damages.
The navies also touched on their common goals, namely protecting trade routes and supporting maritime security in the region. But it wasn’t all talk, as the human side of the visit was also highlighted through fun activities.
The HMS Daring’s crew and their Indonesian counterparts participated in a number of social and sport events. These included a cook-off, in which both sides tried their hand at making each country’s national dish, namely nasi goreng and fish and chips.
The ship’s social engagements also included a football match and school visit, as well as a fun run at Jakarta’s Hotel Indonesia traffic circle on Sunday.
The British Embassy noted that the visit was the latest of HMS Daring’s Wider Regional Engagement tour of her global deployment. The ship has clocked more than 48,000 kilometers in a series of regional visits, military exercises and stops around the world during her nine-month tour.
The ship’s voyage in both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans has taken her to the West Coast of the United States, Australia, as well as Asian countries like China, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam.
The Portsmouth-based Daring is the lead ship of the Royal Navy’s Type 45 air defense destroyers — 8,000-ton, $1.6 billion vessels designed to shield the fleet from air attack by aircraft, drones and anti-ship missiles with the use of missiles as well as radar and advanced early warning systems.
HMS Daring’s stopover is the first high-profile visit by a foreign naval vessel in Indonesia this year
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