HMS Mersey (P283)

HMS Mersey, 2009
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Mersey
Operator: Royal Navy
Ordered: April 2001
Builder: Vosper Thornycroft
Launched: 14 June 2003
Sponsored by: Mrs Jennie Reeve
Commissioned: 28 November 2003
Homeport: HMNB Portsmouth
Identification:
Status: in active service
General characteristics
Class and type: River-class patrol vessel
Displacement: 1,700 tonnes (1,700 long tons; 1,900 short tons)[1]
Length: 79.5 m (260 ft 10 in)
Beam: 13.5 m (44 ft 3 in)
Draught: 3.8 m (12 ft 6 in)
Installed power: 4,125 kW (5,532 hp) at 1,000 rpm
Propulsion: 2 × Ruston 12RK 270 diesel engines
Speed: 20 knots (37 km/h)
Range: 5,500 nmi (10,200 km)
Endurance: 21 days
Boats & landing
craft carried:		 Two rigid inflatable boats
Troops: 20
Complement: 30
Armament:
Visiting Guyana in March 2016

The fifth and current HMS Mersey is a River-class offshore patrol vessel (OPV) of the British Royal Navy. Named after the River Mersey, the ship is the first to be named Mersey in 84 years. Various tenders (predominantly Ton-class minesweepers) were renamed Mersey during their service with Mersey Division Royal Naval Reserve (HMS Eaglet) between the early 1950s and late 1970s.

She was built by Vosper Thornycroft in Southampton to serve as a fishery protection vessel within the United Kingdom's waters along with her two sister ships Tyne and Severn. All three were commissioned into service in 2003 to replace the five older Island-class patrol vessels. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 28 November 2003. At that time, Mersey was not expected to commence duties until February 2004.

Mersey was the last Royal Navy ship to be launched from Vosper Thornycroft at its Woolston shipyard; Jennie Reeve, wife of Rear-Admiral Jonathon Reeve, Chief of Fleet Support, was the ship's sponsor. The first ship launched at the yard was the Tribal-class destroyer Tartar on 25 June 1907.[2]

Mersey departing from Portsmouth Naval Base 12 November 2008

Operational history

For the first thirteen years of her life, Mersey operated around the United Kingdom on Fishery Protection duties.

In October 2013, Mersey was dry docked in Falmouth.

In January 2016, Mersey became the second River-class OPV to be deployed to the Caribbean Sea following on from her sister Severn in 2015. In May 2016, Mersey was dry docked in Martinique as part of her mid-deployment maintenance period. By July, Mersey had been relieved by RFA Wave Knight and was deployed on migrant patrols in the Aegean via a port call in Gibraltar. Mersey returned to Portsmouth on 10 February 2017 after 13 months away to resume her fishery protection duties.[3]

Future

On 24 April 2017, in a written answer to a question raised by Sir Nicholas Soames, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Defence Harriet Baldwin stated that Mersey would be decommissioned in 2019.[4]

In March 2018, Baldwin's successor as Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Defence, Guto Bebb revealed that £12.7M had been allocated from the EU Exit Preparedness Fund to preserve the three Batch 1 ships, should they be needed to control and enforce UK waters and fisheries following the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union.[5]

Affiliations

References

  1. ↑ BAE Systems Offshore Patrol Vessels, baesystems.com, Retrieved 8 June 2014
  2. ↑ HMS Mersey to be final RN ship launched from Woolston
  3. ↑ http://www.itv.com/news/meridian/update/2017-02-10/crowds-gather-to-greet-the-return-of-hms-mersey/
  4. ↑ "Warships and Submarines: Decommissioning:Written question – 71203". Hansard. 24 April 2017. Retrieved 2017-04-25.
  5. ↑ "Ministry of Defence: Public Expenditure:Written question - 132371". Hansard. 16 March 2018. Retrieved 2018-03-21.

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