Mounts Bay took part in the
2006 Vela Deployment. The deployment lasted from 11 September until 22 November 2006. In total approximately 3,000 British personnel and eleven ships of the Royal Navy and
Royal Fleet Auxiliary were involved. This deployment saw for the first time, an vessel, taking part in amphibious operations with a Bay class vessel. The deployment was divided into two phases, the first in local waters and the second in waters off the coast of
Sierra Leone. For this deployment she was fitted with the
Bowman communications system.
Mounts Bay demonstrated her lifting capability by transporting in excess of 130 vehicles, for the passage from the UK via
Lisbon to Sierra Leone. After completing the Vela Deployment, she returned to the UK to load vehicles and equipment for Exercise Clockwork in northern Norway. She reached
Sørreisa on 9 December. Sørreisa is within the
Arctic Circle and is the furthest north any Bay-class vessel has been so far. After discharging her cargo,
Mounts Bay returned to the UK, successfully completing operations from the Equator to the Arctic Circle in the last three months of 2006. She attended the Dover Maritime Careers Festival on 23–24 March 2007, mooring at the
Dover Western Docks. She was also in
Fowey on 22 August 2008 for the regatta week.
Mounts Bay was involved in
Exercise Joint Warrior 2008, along with , which acted as the Fleets Amphibious Flagship. and also took part in the two-week exercise off Scotland. She attended
The Tall Ships' Races event in
Belfast Northern Ireland between 14 and 17 August 2009 which was the finishing line for the competition. In April 2011, she was deployed as part of the Response Force Task Group's COUGAR'11 deployment. In early 2012, she joined the aircraft carrier and fleet flagship to participate in Exercise ‘Joint Warrior’ and other training missions with warships from the United States, Norway and the Netherlands. On
Armed Forces Day 2012, 30 June, she fired the salute in
Plymouth as she steamed past , with the
Earl of Wessex and the
First Sea Lord on board.
Mounts Bay is scheduled to depart for Exercise COUGAR 2013, with
Viking armoured vehicles on board. In January 2016, she set sail for the Mediterranean, carrying the new Governor of Gibraltar,
Ed Davis. She has further been deployed to the Aegean Sea to help NATO forces deal with the
European migrant crisis. By June 2016 she was tasked to the European Union's Operation Sophia to target Daesh gun and people traffickers. After undertaking maintenance in
Falmouth in March 2017,
Mounts Bay deployed to the
Caribbean to provide support during the 2017 hurricane season. She was tasked to assist in HADR operations at
Anguilla,
British Virgin Islands, and
Turks and Caicos Islands in the aftermath of
Hurricane Irma in September 2017 obtaining widespread media coverage. In September 2019,
Mounts Bay delivered essential supplies to
the Bahamas in the wake of
Hurricane Dorian. In March 2022,
Mounts Bay participated in
Cold Response 2022, a multinational
NATO military exercise in
Norway occurring biennially. In August 2024,
Mounts Bay was reported to have deployed to the Mediterranean to replace
RFA Cardigan Bay stationed there in the context of the
Gaza war and which was returning to the U.K. for refit. In late 2024,
Mounts Bay herself returned to the U.K. to undergo refit planned to start in January 2025. She was reported as laid-up in Falmouth due to "treasury constraints" as of 2025 but as of April 2026 was reported to be fully crewed and completing maintenance to permit her reactivation. ==Citations==