Ark Royal returns to UK shores

Alan Massey, captain of HMS Ark Royal, greets his one-year-old bay daughter Sally and wife Julie, as the Royal Navy's flagship arrived home to the UK. * Cheers, Union flags and tears of joy greeted the arrival as a crowd of up to 3,000 packed the jetty of Portsmouth's naval base to give the crew a heroes' welcome. A flypast of military helicopters and a military band heralded their arrival. The mighty aircraft carrier sailed from Portsmouth on January 11, leading Britain's largest maritime task-force since the Falklands War. The Ark Royal was due to head a long-planned Naval Task Group deployment to the Gulf and Asia Pacific regions, but was later tasked to Operation Telic in the Gulf. (Photo by Tim Ockenden - PA Images/PA Images via Getty Images)