HMS Clyde (P257)

Exercising off the Falklands, 2014
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Clyde
Ordered: 2005
Builder: VT Shipbuilding
Laid down: 2005
Launched: 14 June 2006
Sponsored by: Mrs Lesley Dunt, wife of Vice Admiral Sir Peter Dunt (Retired)
Commissioned: 30 January 2007
Homeport: HMNB Portsmouth
Identification:
Motto:
  • Clwo
  • "Strength"
Status: in active service
Badge:
General characteristics
Class and type: River-class patrol vessel
Displacement: 1,850[1] to 2,000 tonnes.[2][3]
Length: 81.5 m (267 ft 5 in)[1]
Beam: 13.5 m (44 ft 3 in)[1]
Propulsion: Two Ruston 12RK 270 engines developing 4,125 kW (5,532 hp) at 1,000 rpm
Speed: 21 kn (39 km/h)[1]
Range: 5,500 nmi (10,200 km)[4]
Endurance: 21 days[4]
Boats & landing
craft carried:
Troops: 20[1]
Complement: 36[1]
Armament:
Aviation facilities: Merlin-capable flight deck[1]

HMS Clyde (pennant number P257) is an offshore patrol vessel and is the tenth ship in the Royal Navy to bear the name. She was launched on 14 June 2006 in Portsmouth Naval Base by VT Group shipbuilders in Portsmouth, England, and is the fourth vessel of the River class, with a displacement of 2,000 tonnes and a 30 mm Oerlikon KCB gun in place of the 20 mm gun fitted to Tyne River-class ships.

Operational history

HMS Clyde at anchor in Fox Bay, West Falkland, July 2011

Clyde was the first ship built entirely in Portsmouth Naval base for 40 years and has been constructed alongside the bow and superstructure sections for the new Type 45 destroyers Daring and Dauntless. She was named in a ceremony on 7 September 2006 as she had not received a traditional launching ceremony.[5]

HMS Clyde was commissioned into the Royal Navy in a ceremony at Portsmouth Naval base on 30 January 2007.[6] She and her ship's company went through a rigorous series of trials and safety training before undergoing operational sea training off Scotland.

After being commissioned into active service she was sent to the South Atlantic to relieve HMS Dumbarton Castle as the Royal Navy's patrol vessel in the area based in the Falkland Islands. Unlike predecessors in this role Clyde will stay in South Atlantic waters for the foreseeable future, with a contract in place for her to remain in the Falkland Islands until 2018.

In January 2011, the government of Brazil denied HMS Clyde access to Rio de Janeiro in solidarity with Argentinian claims over the Falkland Islands sovereignty dispute,[7][8] as Uruguay had done with HMS Gloucester the previous September.

On 18 November 2015, HMS Clyde assisted in the rescue of 347 passengers and crew from the cruise ship Le Boreal drifting off the Falkland Islands after an engine room fire. At 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph), it took the Clyde four hours to reach the stricken ship, which was off the north end of Falkland Sound. Clyde resupplied one of the two larger lifeboats with fuel and took on people from the smaller lifeboats, and then escorted them to Falkland Sound, where they transferred the passengers to Le Boreal's sister ship, L'Austral.[9]

In January 2017, Clyde was dry docked in Simonstown, South Africa for maintenance;[10] her patrol duties were temporarily transferred to survey ship HMS Enterprise.

On 21 September 2017, Clyde celebrated ten years in the South Atlantic with her only time off station being the maintenance periods in South Africa.[11]

In November 2017, Clyde was ordered to return from a patrol of South Georgia to assist in the search for the missing Argentinian submarine ARA San Juan.[12]

Future

A parliamentary briefing paper released in October 2016 stated that Clyde would leave service in 2017;[13] however on 24 April 2017, in a written answer to a question raised by Sir Nicholas Soames, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Defence Harriet Baldwin stated Clyde would be decommissioned in 2019.[14] Clyde is expected to be replaced by the Batch 2 HMS Forth in 2018.[15][16]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Bush, Steve (2014). British Warships and Auxiliaries. Maritime Books. pp. 23–24. ISBN 1904459552.
  2. ↑ Colledge, J. J. (2010). Ships of the Royal Navy. Casemate Publishers. p. 83. ISBN 9781612000275.
  3. ↑ Royal Navy HMS Clyde, royalnavy.mod.uk. Retrieved 8 June 2014. Quote – "At just over 2,000 tonnes displacement, she may not be the biggest ship in the Navy, but this is certainly made up for in capability."
  4. 1 2 "Offshore Patrol Vessels". baesystems.com. Retrieved 2 August 2016.
  5. ↑ "Royal Navy press release on launching of Clyde". Archived from the original on 8 September 2006. Retrieved 11 September 2006.
  6. ↑ "Royal Navy press release on acceptance into fleet". Archived from the original on 26 September 2007. Retrieved 29 January 2007.
  7. ↑ "Brasil le prohibió amarrar en Río a un buque británico de Malvinas Brasil le prohibió amarrar en Río a un buque británico de Malvinas". infobae (in Spanish). 9 January 2011. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  8. ↑ Niebieskikwiat, Natasha (7 January 2011). "Brasil le prohibió el ingreso a un buque de guerra británico". Clarín (in Spanish). Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  9. ↑ "Clyde helps 200 cruise ship passengers after Falklands fire". navynews.co.uk. 20 November 2015. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  10. ↑ http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-latest-activity/news/2017/january/09/170109-clyde-high-and-dry
  11. ↑ http://www.penguin-news.com/index.php/headlines/all-headlines/19-community/109-thank-you-for-a-decade-hms-clyde
  12. ↑ "Argentina's missing submarine: Key questions on disappearance of ARA San Juan". Sky News. 21 November 2017. Retrieved 21 November 2017.
  13. ↑ http://researchbriefings.files.parliament.uk/documents/CBP-7737/CBP-7737.pdf
  14. ↑ "Warships and Submarines: Decommissioning:Written question – 71203". Hansard. 24 April 2017. Retrieved 25 April 2017.
  15. ↑ "Make way for Medway as second new patrol ship is named". Royal Navy. 2017-10-20. Retrieved 2017-10-30.
  16. ↑ http://en.mercopress.com/2018/02/22/falklands-new-patrol-vessel-starts-her-long-journey-to-the-south-atlantic


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