There are currently 14 University Royal Naval Units (URNUs) supporting
the countries' leading Universities in England, Wales and Scotland.
Each URNU is commanded by a RN Lieutenant who is responsible for 51
undergraduates who each join the URNU as RN Reservists for their 3
years at University. Training is conducted one evening a week in shore
units at or near the University and at sea, over the weekends and
during the holidays, by a dedicated Archer Class P2000 20 metre Patrol
craft.
The URNU/First Patrol Boat Squadron headquarters is a combined office
at Portsmouth responsible for the administration and support of both
the shore Units and the associated P2000 ships.
Two other P2000s (HMS Pursuer and HMS Dasher) were relocated to Cyprus
in 2002 to form a new "Cyprus Squadron", and these are used to patrol
the waters around the Sovereign Base Area (SBA).
| P2000
CLASS Specifications |
| Length |
20.8 m |
| Displacement |
54 tons |
| Beam |
5.8 m |
| Draught |
1.8 m |
| Engines |
Perkins CVM 800T diesels |
| Max Speed |
Batch 1 - 20 knots,
Batch 2 - 24 knots |
| Range |
500 km at 15 knots |
| Complement |
17 (5 permanent
Ship's Company) |
| Armament |
1 x 20 mm AA Gun and
2 x 7.62 mm MG (Ranger and Trumpeter only) |
| NAME |
BASED |
DATE
COMMISSIONED |
| HMS
Archer
(P264) |
Aberdeen |
1985 |
| HMS
Biter
(P270) |
Manchester |
1985 |
| HMS
Smiter
(P272) |
Glasgow |
1985 |
| HMS
Pursuer
(P273) |
Cyprus |
1985 |
| HMS
Blazer
(P279) |
Southampton |
1988 |
| HMS
Dasher
(P280) |
Cyprus |
1988 |
| HMS
Exploit
(P167) |
Birmingham |
1988 |
| HMS
Tracker
(P274) |
Oxford |
1998 |
| HMS
Puncher
(P291) |
London |
1988 |
| HMS
Charger
(P292) |
Liverpool |
1988 |
| HMS
Ranger
(P293) |
Sussex |
1988 |
| HMS
Trumpeter
(P294) |
Bristol |
1988 |
| HMS
Example
(P165) |
Northumbria |
1985 |
| HMS
Explorer
(P164) |
Yorkshire |
1985 |
| HMS
Express
(P163) |
Wales |
1988 |
|
HMS Raider (P275)
|
Cambridge |
1998 |
|
