The Navy's in town, or are they leaving?

Went over to Liverpool Marina today, the plan being to take Quasar back on the River Mersey for the first time this year!  After £millions of pounds engine refit etc. (it seems that much)  we thought today would be a breeze! It wasn't!  Apart from the sea fog and the cold northerly  breeze (nothing at all like the forecast which predicted sunshine all day...) her engine turned over once then died!  We were very lucky to have the marina "sparks in residence" (affectionately known as Dangerous Dave) available and he came over within the hour and after suggesting a number of likely remedies such as - new engine, new wiring, new boat etc he found the fault was a loose starter motor connection - hurrah!  We are now about to rename Quasar as "Reluctant Lady" because ever since I removed her from the safety and comfort of Lake Windermere she's been nothing but trouble - I am convinced she wants to go back to being "The Lady of the Lake" rather than "Seafaring Sally" of Liverpool!

Anyway we did have a small diversion (not so small) in that the above Royal Naval vessel (HMS Explorer) was going out via the lock which was already occupied by a massive catamaran bound for the wind farm at the mouth of the Mersey.  I just managed to get these photos but I wish I could have been at the lock gates to get the other ship in too.

For those of a nautical bent HMS Explorer is an Archer Class P2000 (URNU) which looks as though she was visiting HMS Eaglet the "shore ship" of the Royal Naval Reserve unit associated with Liverpool.  Bet she didn't have a loose starter motor connection!