|
RIVER CLASS
Patrol vessels are used for
fishery protection and patrolling Britain's offshore gas and oilfield
installations. In addition these useful ships can be used further afield.
The ship’s roles include the protection of offshore
installations, homeland defence and any other short- notice
tasking that may be required by.
A typical Offshore patrol
vessel spends over 300 days at sea in a year.
Vosper Thorneycroft completed delivery of three River Class
offshore patrol vessels for the UK Royal Navy in 2003. The first
of class, HMS Tyne (P281), entered service in January 2003, HMS
Severn (P282) in June 2003 and HMS Mersey (P283) in December
2003.
In February 2005, the MoD placed a contract with Vosper
Thorneycroft for HMS Clyde, a River Class Batch 2 variant, to
act as the Falkland Islands Patrol Vessel. HMS Clyde replaces
the Castle Class HMS Leeds Castle and Dumbarton Castle OPVs.
Each vessel has a large working cargo deck that that allows the
vessel to be equipped for a specific role such as disaster
relief, anti-pollution, fire fighting, rescue work or
interception of other vessels.
Standard containers can be handled using a fitted 25 ton crane.
| RIVER
CLASS Specification |
| Length |
79.75 m |
| Displacement |
1,700 tons
full load |
| Beam |
13.6
m |
| Draught |
3.8
m |
| Engines |
2
x Ruston 12RK 270 Main Engines developing 4125kW @
1000rpm |
| Max Speed |
20 knots |
| Range |
5,500 nm at 15
knots |
| Complement |
30 (plus 18
Boarding Party) |
| Armament |
1 x 20 mm Gun |
| Helicopters |
Small
helicopter deck |
| Sensors |
Sensors and
Combat Data System |
| NAME |
IN-SERVICE
DATE |
| HMS Tyne
(P281) |
2003 |
| HMS Severn
(P282) |
2004 |
| HMS Mersey
(P283) |
2004 |
| HMS Clyde
(P284) |
2006 |
|
