A PRESS officer from Petersfield has been commended by the Royal Navy.

Samantha Chapman received a Chief of Joint Operations Commendation for “outstanding efforts”.

Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Sir Philip Jones presented the award to Samantha on behalf of his colleague Lieutenant General John Lorimer.

Samantha, 34, was awarded a commendation in recognition of her “outstanding contribution” while being operationally deployed with HMS Daring during Typhoon Haiyan in 2013.

A press officer with the Senior Service for the past five years, Mrs Chapman can deploy with ships across the globe to cover exercise and events for media coverage in the UK.

In November 2013, she joined Type 45 destroyer HMS Daring in Singapore for a five-day programme that included Exercise Bersama Lima – a series of war games with the Australian, Malaysian, New Zealand and Singapore navies.

Three days in and HMS Daring was retasked with spearheading the UK aid-relief effort in the Philippines which had been hit by one of the strongest tropical cyclones ever recorded, killing more than 6,300 people.

Samantha volunteered to stay on board ship as the media officer and stayed with the ship until HMS Illustrious arrived three weeks later, at which point she moved to the carrier.