They were all brought up in landlocked Huddersfield – about as far as you can get from the sea.

And now they are united at one of the country’s top Royal Naval Air Stations.

The three officers at Culdrose in Cornwall are putting their own Yorkshire seal of approval on their Merlin Squadron and sharing a love of the Huddersfield Giants – with one admitting to wearing his Huddersfield Giants shirt even while chasing pirates!

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The proud Yorkshire trio, Commander John Holroyd, 40, Lieutenant Commander Earl Kingston, 38, and Lieutenant Jonny Balcam, 33, the squadron’s Logistics officer, all hail from Huddersfield.

They discovered their home town connection when Cdr Holroyd, the new Commanding Officer joined 820 Naval Air Squadron last month.

Lt Cdr Kingston, Senior Pilot of 820 NAS, said: “We’ve all met up before in the Royal Navy, but not actually in Huddersfield, which is about as land-locked and away from water as you could be, if you don’t count the canals.

“We all went to different schools in the area and have had different career paths so far in the Royal Navy, but Yorkshire roots run deep, even in Cornwall.”

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820 NAS are one of the Fleet Air Arm’s frontline Merlin Mk 2 Anti-Submarine helicopter squadrons that are at a high readiness for deployments around the world in support of naval operations.

The Royal Navy's New Merlin Mk2 helicopters in formation

Their aircraft are equipped with some of the most sophisticated sonar equipment in the world, capable of hunting out submarines and monitoring potential aggressors wherever they are.

The unit will be the first squadron to join HMS Queen Elizabeth, the first of the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carriers when she begins trials later this year.

Lt Cdr Kingston added: “The Royal Navy is not a usual career choice for people from Huddersfield, but my career over the past 15 years has been amazing.

A Merlin helicopter from 820 Naval Air Squadron at Culdrose was tasked to lift urgent supplies into a Community Care Centre in Kumala, a remote area of Sierra Leone.

“Everywhere I’ve gone my Huddersfield Giants shirt has gone with me. I’ve worn it in the Gulf, the Falklands, Australia, off the coast of Somalia when we were chasing pirates, I’ve even stood on the Great Wall of China with it on; it’s been all over the world!”

“There’s always a little bit of Huddersfield with me and now my colleagues.”