Adorable moment youngsters run to their dad’s arms for emotional reunion as HMS Enterprise returns to Plymouth after three-year deployment
The sailors have been helping rescue refugees from the Mediterranean Sea
THIS is the heart-melting moment twins Summer and Amelia Payne welcomed their Royal Navy sailor dad home after three years at sea with a kiss on each cheek.
The adorable toddlers were born just before their dad Leading Hand Dixon Payne shipped out aboard HMS Enterprise on the 35-month deployment.
Dressed in matching pink quilted jackets, LH Payne swept his gorgeous girls into his arms for a long-awaited cuddle - still wearing his Navy cap.
Children waved union flags and held up hand-painted signs reading 'Welcome home Daddy' as the exhausted sailors finally returned home to Plymouth, Devon, after their epic journey which covered 150,000 nautical miles.
The Royal Navy vessel has been working to halt people being smuggled in the Mediterranean, saving more than 9,000 people who were pulled from the ocean as the refugee crisis took hold.
At least 200 British citizens were evacuated from the capital of Libya, Tripoli, after the ship launched in 2014.
Another 117 unseaworthy vessels used by people traffickers were destroyed by the Navy.
Commanding Officer Philip Harper said: "The crew of HMS Enterprise are justly proud of the work they have done since deploying, and the wide variety of operations will be hard to match in the rest of our careers."
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The ship entered Plymouth proudly flying an efficiency pennant - an award given to the ship last year and granted special permission to be flown on the home stretch.
Sailors worked four months on, four months off, and the youngest person waiting at the shore was newborn baby Isaac, the son of the ship's navigating officer Lieutenant Nicholas Radue.
Born only five weeks ago, Isaac was waiting in the arms of his mum, Alex Radue, on the jetty today.
Ltd Radue flew home for the birth but had to rejoin the crew shortly afterwards.
He said: "It's wonderful to see little Isaac again.
"Even though the Navy kindly allowed me home to see him when he was born before I had to rejoin the ship for the journey back.
"I have missed half of his short life and he is a different boy already.''
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