CROWDS flocked to Penarth Pier to catch a glimpse of the NATO warships leaving Cardiff Bay on Monday evening.

Families waited for more than two hours to see the Royal Navy’s newest warship, HMS Duncan, sail past the pier in the evening sun.

For many it was worth the wait to see the 8,000 tonne warship, which cost more than £1billion to build, in all its glory.

An estimated 50,000 of people went down to Cardiff Bay on Sunday for a Meet the Forces event, where they were given the chance to see the collection of warships, military vehicles and a Red Arrows plane

They were also given the opportunity to climb aboard the Type 45 destroyer HMS Duncan and be given a tour of the warship.

After the day’s fun the warships began to leave Cardiff Bay on Monday afternoon.

The first warships sailed past Penarth Pier around 5pm, themselves drawing a crowd of keen photographers, before HMS Duncan manoeuvred its way out of Cardiff Bay and sailed past Penarth around 7pm.

Many were impressed not just by the sheer size of the warships, but by their incredible speed too.

One woman, who did not want to be named, said that the HNoMS Skudd from Norway, a camouflaged missile patrol boat, was the fastest thing she had ever seen.

Others were impressed by the billions of pounds of weaponry on display, with some describing it as a “once in a lifetime” opportunity to see the warships in action.

The boats that sailed past Penarth on Monday evening also included the Dutch minesweeper HNLMS Urk M861, Lithuanian minesweeper LNS Kursis M54 and the M-05 Viesturs minehunter ship from Latvia.