HMS TYNE

River Class Patrol Vessels

The River class is a class of three offshore patrol vessels in the Royal Navy

HMS Tyne P281

HMS Severn P282

HMS Mersey P283

The River Class is deployed for fishery protection and other patrol missions around the United Kingdom.

HMS Tyne is the first of a trio of River-class patrol ships built to safeguard the fishing stocks in UK.  The ship is one of the busiest in the Fleet. Like younger sisters Severn and Mersey, she spends on average nine out of every ten days of the year at sea.   The River Class offshore patrol vessels carry sufficient fuel, stores and water supplies for an endurance of 21 days.

Their primary role is enforcement of national and EU fisheries legislation within British Fishery Limits. Tyne has also been designed to carry out a number of other tasks including – but not limited to – environmental protection, search and rescue and maritime security.  With a crew of just 42, split into 3 watches, the ship is able to patrol for in excess of 300 days per year.

The vessel typically has a complement of 28 but can accommodate a crew of 30 plus a Royal Marine boarding party of 18, comprising 12 officers, 14 senior and 22 junior ratings.

Designed to take over from the veteran Island-class boats, HMS Tyne was built in Woolston Docks, Southampton and is based at HM Naval Base Portsmouth.  She is the sixth ship to bear the name Tyne in the Royal Navy.

HMS Tyne is seen here alongside in Leith preparing for 5 night stay and hosting some VIP’s over the week.

Note: Tyne's home port is shown under her name, very unusual for a warship to have this.  

Queen Elizabeth Lower Block 04

Almost the full length of a football pitch, the structure and largest section of hull under construction is so large that it stretches beyond the doors of the ship build hall in which it sits.

Lower Block 04 when complete, will contain 12,000 pipes and 100,000 kilometres of cables, ahead of her departure to Rosyth later this year.

Housing the two main engine rooms, a medical area and accommodation, LB04 will weigh over 11,000 tonnes on completion, stand over 23 metres tall, 86 metres long and 40 metres wide. The block, which will be transported to Rosyth in the Autumn, will be the last hull section of HMS Queen Elizabeth to arrive and will join the other units and sections of the ship in dry dock where she is being assembled.

At Govan, work also continues on the mid section of the second ship, HMS Prince of Wales. Since the first steel was cut on this section in May last year, over 80 units of LB03 are currently in production. Meanwhile, workers at BAE Systems in Portsmouth are gearing up for the transit of Lower Block 05 and Lower Block 02 of HMS Queen Elizabeth to Rosyth at the end of April and May respectively.

The aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales are being delivered by the Aircraft Carrier Alliance, a unique partnering relationship between BAE Systems, Thales UK, Babcock and the UK Ministry of Defence. BAE Systems has an overarching role in managing the QE Class programme, as well as playing a central role in the design and build of the ships.

The QE Class will be the centre piece of Britain’s military capability. Each 65,000 tonne aircraft carrier will provide the armed forces with a four acre military operating base which can be deployed worldwide. The vessels will be versatile enough to be used for operations ranging from supporting war efforts to providing humanitarian aid and disaster relief.

HUGE thanks to Gillian for the arranging of the visit

 Lower Block 04 is seen here in the shed in Govan

 

 

And the very early stages of Prince Of Wales (but maybe renamed to Ark Royal)