Nick Cooke-Priest, Captain of HMS Bulwark said: "Starting very early this morning, this has been an intense, complex day. My helicopters have done a brilliant job locating a number of migrant vessels and my landing craft have effected their rescues with typical professionalism and complete success." He added: "In many ways this search and rescue mission is like an amphibious operation - I've deployed landing craft and aircraft in multiple waves, in poor visibility, operating autonomously over the horizon - the objective this time, of course, being to save life. But it's only through being trained for high-intensity warfighting operations that we are able to execute such activities in peacetime." Picture: Rowan Griffiths/PA

Credit : Rowan Griffiths/PA