The Archer class (or P2000)
is a class of patrol and training vessel in service with the Royal Navy,
commonly referred to as a Fast
Training Boat.
Most are assigned to University Royal Naval Units, although HMS Tracker and HMS Raider are armed and provide maritime force
protection to high value shipping in the Firth of Clyde although are most
commonly employed as escorts for submarines transiting to Faslane.
The
Archers were initially used as
Royal Navy patrol craft and as training tenders for the Royal Naval Reserve
(RNR) and University Royal Naval Units (URNU). Four identical vessels were
ordered for the Royal Naval Auxiliary Service (RNXS) as Example-class tenders. When that service was disbanded in 1994,
the Examples were transferred
to the Royal Navy for similar duties as their Archer-class brethren (under the same names under which they
served as "XSVs", all of which begin with the first syllable
"Ex"). Until 2005, the four Examples
were still painted with a black hull.
In 1998 two additional vessels (Raider and Tracker) of this design were commissioned into the Royal Navy
from Ailsa Shipbuilding Company, to replace Loyal Watcher and Loyal
Chancellor as URNU training vessels for the two newest URNUs, serving
Cambridge and Oxford Universities respectively (Raider was later transferred to Bristol URNU whilst Trumpeter became the ship of
Cambridge URNU). This brought the total of Archer class vessels in the Royal Navy to sixteen, of which
fourteen form the 1st Patrol Boat Squadron (formerly the Inshore Training
Squadron), each one attached to an URNU (one per unit) under the command of a
Lieutenant.
The
remaining two vessels (Pursuer
and Dasher), having formed the
Cyprus Squadron from 2003 to 2010, and URNU vessels before that, returned
to the UK in April 2010 to form the Faslane Patrol Boat Squadron, performing
security duties within HMNB Clyde.
In
2012 Dasher and Pursuer were replaced by Raider and Tracker - these can be identified by a number of pintle-mounted
L7 7.62 mm GPMG machine guns and armour plating. Ranger and Trumpeter
were also formerly allocated to the Gibraltar Squadron for guard ship and
search and rescue duties, but were replaced by the dedicated Scimitar class. These two ships were
also used during the Thames River Pageant, escorting the Royal Barge during the
Queens Diamond Jubilee. Unlike the remainder of the class, both these ships
remain capable of being mounted with a 20 mm cannon on the fo'c'sle.
The
NATO designation of a P2000 is "PBR", denoting a "Patrol Boat -
Riverine and Harbours"
Blazer is seen ahead of Express as they arrive in Leith on the 15th July 2015.
