Thank you. I am delighted to be here tonight to continue the affiliation between the Royal Navy's newest operational warship and the DARING Class Yachts and there can be no better place to do so than here in the oldest sailing club in the United Kingdom, the Royal Thames.

Those of you that follow the news via the Internet rather than the traditional means of television and the radio may have googled HMS DARING and discovered that he past six months have been busy, productive and ground braking. Those of you that take a most pessimistic view may have read of our engineering challenges in the local papers that I crashed into a tug in Southampton and have been adrift without power in the Atlantic; neither where accurate nor helpful headlines.

Earlier this summer, your £1bn warship completed Basic Operational Sea Training off Plymouth, before deploying to the Eastern Seaboard of the United States to continue our training with the might of the United States Navy. DARING was the Air Defence Commander for the USS ENTERPRISE. Think of the movie, Top Gun: we were protecting the aircraft carrier from enemy attacks while her aircraft was taking the fight to the enemy ashore. DARING is able to provide an umbrella of protection over the carrier and/or amphibious units beyond that ever seen at sea. We can see further, with better definition and reach out further with our missiles. To put this into context, if DARING is in the middle of the English Channel, I can see all the aircraft over London, Dublin, Amsterdam and Paris.

The USN had never seen a clearer air picture on their command displays than that provided by DARING.

While berthed in New York, we supported The British Consul General and the British Ambassador to the UN by hosting an FCO reception, by providing a venue for UN Secretary General Dinner, hosting the UK Olympic Committee 2012 event and supporting the 2018 London bid for the World Cup. There is never a dull day in DARING.

DARING is an amazing warship; she's better than anything the country has ever had before and will be part of the Navy's Order of Battle for the next 40 years and I am confident that your fortune will change at some stage when the Commanding Officer confesses to be a sailing enthusiast. In the meantime, DARING – the warship - will maintain our strong bond and strive to get as many of you to visit us in harbour and get to sea during Affiliations Days. It is important that you know what DARING is, what she can do, why you need her and more importantly, why you need the Navy. I do not need to remind yachtsmen who spend their time at sea in the Solent that we are an Island Nation and depend on the sea for our trade and that, and our interests worldwide, and you need the presence and the protection afforded by the Royal Navy.

In this post SDSR world when change abounds, HMS DARING's programme for 2011 is not yet set in stone but we are planning on board, and Navy Command HQ is aware, to be at Cowes for your 50th Anniversary celebrations next Summer. Until then, I wish you fair winds, following seas and good sailing.

Although, in different guises, we are all mariners here and I would ask that you join me in a slightly amended traditional Naval toast for Monday:

Ladies and gentlemen, the toast is, "our ships and our yachts".