The Falkland Islands have welcomed the arrival of new patrol vessel HMS Forth.
British Forces South Atlantic Islands say that the ship has taken over the mission from HMS Clyde, which has offered protection to the Falklands and nearby South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands for the past 12 years.
The long-term deployment of HMS Forth will see the ship act as the guardian and patrol vessel for the Falkland Islands and Britain’s South Atlantic territories.
The Royal Navy say that it will be a number of years before the vessel herself returns, while her crews will rotate between the UK and South Atlantic.
HMS Forth is a Batch 2 River class Offshore Patrol Vessel and is fundamentally different in appearance and capabilities from the preceding Batch 1.
Notable differences include the longer 90.5 metres long hull, a higher top speed of 24 knots, a Merlin-capable flight deck, a greater displacement of around 2,000 tonnes and greatly expanded capacity for accommodating personnel.
The Batch 2 ships therefore arguably represent a distinctly separate class to the preceding Batch 1 in everything but name.
HMS Forth also recently monitored the Russian warship ‘Vasily Bykov’ through the English Channel and Dover Strait.
What a wasted opportunity to increase the fleet. These ships are nearly 2000 tons. They should be light frigates. Add a hanger, a 76mm Gun and some anti-aircraft point defence and they would be proper warships. Instead we have a, yes good, glorified fishery protection vessel.
Anyway good luck to the ship’s company…
I thought the general consensus from reading the many knowledgeable comments on here is that if you did that the treasury is going to say why spend a billion on a ship if you can build these warships for £150 million.
Its not just that James, they ARE the “glorified fishery protection vessels” that Rob is talking about. They’re not warships, they’re a presence, if in this instance with the Falklands if we had a type 23/26/31 down there it would require more maintenance, there would be a bigger crew, a larger asset sat doing hee haw. If the Argentinians had their heart set on recapturing the ‘Malvinas’ they could attack without warning and have a good chance of sinking whatever vessel we had there. Its a symbol to say we give a crap and a “glorified fishery protection vessel” does that and much cheaper than other options. The size of the vessel just makes it a more capable platform in the atrocious weather they sometimes have to deal with down there. It also helps when they’re doing fishery protection in the North Sea etc too of course.
They are great ships for what they will do, I think everyone’s main gripe is that they where too expensive for what they do and we had no need for them in the first place. The River Batch 1 and 1.5’s where more than capable of providing the same role for another 15 years and we should have started building T26 a lot sooner in more numbers.
The opinion on here seems to be Batch 2 are an expensive stop gap
Why did the MOD not just start building the Type 26
I think the River batch 2 vessels will prove very useful alongside the retained batch 1 vessels in protecting, monitoring and guarding the UK EEZ. Especially post Brexit. Prior to the River batch 2s being built the UK had and still does have one of the smallest fishery protection and patrol vessel fleets in the world, especially considering our huge maritime EEZ.
I agree that we’re not getting a lot of ‘bang’ for our buck as it were, they were the stop gap to keep the ship building competence going. We could toss ‘why’ back and forth (geddit) but its done. In traditional fashion, the reaction to the gap in submarine building in Barrow and the problems it caused has maybe led to the expensive ‘stop gap’ platforms that we’ve now got. The next time there’s a gap in production they might try something else, who knows.
I think next time there’s a gap in the production they should build five more of the same, except this time with increased ELINT from the get go. Adding UAVs like the RQ-21 or a Camcopter can hugely increase area surveilled and S&R effectiveness. How many countries have any blue-water capable patrol ships? We should make the most of it. The Rivers aren’t a full-on warship, but they are a presence, which means they can conduct joint operations with smaller countries that only have constabulary navies. That builds up relationships and increases soft power, even without the disaster relief portfolio.
Also, it might prove handy having seven or eight inoffensive forward-based ships, chugging around the world, each capable of housing special forces or commando recce teams.
Finally in time of war they could be quickly converted into a downmarket corvette, which is considerably better than trying to build hulls from scratch. Why upgun (and upcrew) them now?
Good Morning Andy. I think the chances of the Argentinians attacking without warning are about as close to zero as one can get! They don’t have any asset capable of launching an attack and even if they put their mind to rebuilding their Navy, it would take years and give plenty warning of possible future mischief. Any Navy/Government that allows its ships to roll over and sink whilst tied up in port hasn’t a hope in hell of mustering the necessary-I refer to their ex RN Type 42 that went down due to a lack of the most basic of care and maintenance.
The Batch 2’s are good vessels and able of upgrading to perhaps Corvette standard should the need arise and as you say, they are a presence reassuring the locals and equipped with good eyes and ears.
Regards from humid and hot Durban
Agree Argentina are incapable of retaking the islands currently and not capable of anything other than embarrassing harassment raids of short duration and annoyance only really offering political embarrassment but little to no practical outcome. Any attempt to land or occupy territory will be swiftly rebuffed.
Now HMS QE and HMS POW are around the opportunity of retaking the islands has gone for at least the next 50 years. It would take a major world power to overcome a task force composed of either of those vessels, alongside type 45s, type 23,26,31s and astute/ Trafalgar class subs.
Although I would sleep better at night knowing we had more of the above assets
Agreed, not something that we need to be concerned about anytime soon.
The B2 River has a perfectly acceptable fitout for the tasks it needs to carry out, much as it’d be cool for it to have more kit. I see it as a sort of USCG cutter, which I think has a similar loadout. Particularly in the South Atlantic, being able to support emergency operations, ship rescues, the Antarctic stations etc. makes the B2 a good choice.
Containerised mission systems that could be airlifted by A400/C17 and dropped on the back deck / mission bay of Rivers, T31s, Bays, and pretty much everythign else should be seriously looked at as a low cost way of improving the flexibility of the fleet we have. That way, we could turn a GP vessel of any size based in the Falklands, Gulf or Singapore into a surface warfare, ASW, SAR, disaster relief, even limited AAD vessel.
Have a bunny chow for me next time you get the chance, haven’t had one in far too long…!
Howsit Joe! A Bunny Chow plays hell with my Ulcer but I can manage some grated Biltong and a Castle Light 🙂
Ah, well take it easy then, don’t do yourself damage. Biltong and a brew is certainly a worthy replacement. Enjoy and give the ulcer a chance to sort itself!
Cold Castles are very relaxing ?
Totally agree Geoff that its very unlikely that Argentina are capable of anything more than a strongly worded letter at the moment.
Even if they were more capable and started building up a fleet/air force then unless we matched it or bettered it then that would tie up a lot of vessels on the off chance they decided to go for it. We have a ‘gun boat’ down there to say that its ‘ours’, or at least the islanders want to stay British. We can always reinforce as and when required.
I can understand why some want the Rivers to be upgunned, I’m not dead set against it but it would make these relatively simple platforms with small crews that we can use for low level ops into crap warships. The 2000 tons just means they’re very big OPV’s, same as our frigates and destroyers are getting a lot bigger. Big is this seasons black it seems.
Agreed. Upgrade to full corvettes asap and then order 5 more.
Given the diplomatic situation surrounding the Falkland Islands, and the agreements between several South American and African nations to keep the South Atlantic as free of military build-up as reasonably possible, it would be provocative of us to assign an (obviously) ‘proper warship’ to Patrol Duties in the Falklands.
HMS Forth, and it’s predecessor HMS Clyde, make the point that needs to be made, that the Falkland Islands are UK territory, without stirring up a hornets nest of diplomatic wrangling.
They are quite capable for the job in hand, and will soon let us know if further assets are needed. If it ain’t broke, don’t mend it.
Good to see she arrived safely. It should be noted that HMS Scott and HMS Protector are also in the region.
Also of interest and relevant to the forward basing school of thought is the news that Medway will relieve Mounts Bay later in the year.
HMS Protector is in Plymouth….
Is your . key stuck?
But so she is, my bad.
Good news Lusty.
That I feel is the true usefulness of these vessels often ignored amongst the up arming talk. Forward presence, saving our Frigates from the job.
1 Falklands,1 Caribbean, 1 Med, 1 Gulf.
Stick SIGINT, and a mini UAV on them and they are very useful indeed.
I also understand the up arming desire but it really is not necessary.
Agree, I’ve long argued for a Gib forward based vessel for wider Med duties.
I’ve heard rumours of some B2’s going to the Far East. HMS Enterprise is silently currently on deployment there, maybe acquiring a ‘feel’ for things?
Forgot to add: HMS Severn is to recommission this year.
Montserrat or Guyana forward basing?
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2018/12/29/britain-become-true-global-player-post-brexit-new-military-bases/