Falmouth became Bridgetown, Barbados, over the weekend when the ship's company of HMS Portland were put through their paces by staff from the Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) as they near the end of an intensive period of exercises off the south coast before deploying to the West Indies in June.

Boarding the frigate in Falmouth Bay, the commanding officer Commander Mike Utley told me that for exercise purposes Falmouth was being treated like a visit to a West Indies port.

An 11 gun salute was fired abeam of Pendennis Castle as we steamed into the harbour. Even the hot weather gave the port a tropical feeling. Alongside the County wharf the ship was dressed overall.

The FOST team set up simulated events that can include a fire simulated by smoke canisters for realism, a casualty or a maritime pollution incident.

The majority of the training undertaken throughout operational sea training is focused on conflict scenarios, but the visit to Falmouth was programmed to add greater diversity and realism to training by the crew in a mock diplomatic peacetime scenario.

FOST Lt Commander Iain Doran asked if I would volunteer to mingle with the people visiting the vessel on Sunday afternoon and as part of a medical emergency I had to fake a suspected heart attack in the wheelhouse.

Holby City and Casualty I'm available after giving a "fine acting performance" - FOST's words not mine. With the medical emergency over I left Portland's crew to the mercy of the men from FOST who will ensure the ship and crew are top notch before joining the front line.

The FOST training staff assessed the ship's ability to deal with a series of challenging and changing scenarios staged by the trainers during the ship's visit.

The training is vital to ensure the ship's company understand the appropriate initial reactions to any emergency.