HMS Trent is set to embark on a mission in Africa, following extensive restoration work.

The third vessel in a fleet of five second-generation River-class ships, Trent has returned to frontline operational readiness after a period of maintenance in Gibraltar.

This offshore patrol vessel is committed to permanent forward deployment in the Mediterranean and Africa. “HMS Trent’s work with allies, upholding maritime security and representing the UK and Royal Navy is paramount,” the official press release stated.

Since the end of May, HMS Trent has returned to the seas with a 40-strong crew revitalising the 2,000-tonne warship. Assessors from the Fleet Operational Standard and Training, who initially confirmed the crew’s qualifications to operate the warship, returned this month to prepare them for their next operational patrol.

The forthcoming patrol will take HMS Trent back to West Africa, reminiscent of its summer/autumn mission in 2021.

Alongside a team of Royal Marines from 42 Commando, HMS Trent will engage in training military and law enforcement agencies in the region. A significant part of the mission is learning about the ‘pattern of life’ in the operational area, which is critical to identifying and rooting out potential terrorists, pirates, or smugglers amidst lawful maritime activities.

The Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre (MAOC) in Lisbon, crucial to understanding traffic off the Iberian Peninsula and Africa’s western seaboard, is part of the planned route.

Commander Tim Langford, HMS Trent’s Commanding Officer, and his team visited the MAOC headquarters during their berth in Lisbon. Here, MAOC staff briefed them on the tracking routes and methods used in the North and South Atlantic. They also discussed recent operations and established a direct communication link between the ship and the headquarters.

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George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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34 COMMENTS

  1. It’s been nice to see HMS Trent back in action recently. All the best to the ship and its crew on the West African deployment.

  3. Interesting that many (all?) of the commanding officer of River B2 OPVs are now Commander, not Lieutenant Commander.

    UW, Trent.

    • With the loss of MCMV fleet it looks like the Lt Cdr command role has been lost. It happened first in the FAA and now the surface fleet as well

  4. In WWII the Flower Class Corvette’s were the workhorse of the Royal Navy, serving across the world in most of its Oceans.

    Todays River Class ships, are slightly bigger, faster, have a lot further range, and have half the size crew as those Corvettes.

    Personally I think that the term ‘River Class’ belittles the Ships, their value, and their abilities.

    I mean River… what’s a river got to do with anything?

      • I’m not so sure about their abilities, they are under armed coastal patrol vessels, designed for fishery protection, not for gallivanting around the world trying to do the job of a Frigate. The German Braunschweig class corvette is the same displacement & size. It is armed with a 76mm gun, 4x anti ship missiles, two RAM x21 missile launchers, plus can carry 34 naval mines.

          • It also has a range of 4600 miles and an endurance of only 7 days and a crew of 65 and no ribs vs the rivers 6300 miles range and very long 35 day’s endurance slim 40 crew…one is a warships designed to patrol the littoral in time of war and attack surface combatants…but is shite at trotting around lots of ocean doing long distance constabulary patrols..the other was never designed to be a combatant and is instead designed to do long range occen going constabulary patrols and cheaply as possibe.

          • It really would be rather more impressive if the RN stumped up sufficient coin of the realm for an updated class of HMS Vanguard gunboats. You know, complete w/ DEW, railguns, hypersonics, etc. Enough armaments to do a right proper job of scaring the crap out of everyone else sailing the high seas. 😉

          • I would also like to see energy shields for total survivability up to and including a nuclear exchange as well as a space warping drive for instant strategic movement…can you imagine that. That would be a game changer.

          • Yup, Warp engines (deflector) shields, phasers and photon torpedoes, circa the 24th century. Perhaps a shade sooner, if AUKUS pans out as expected. 🤔😉

          • I agree with the article that they are probably far more survivable than they are given credit for, but I doubt they’d be a combatant per se. More likely they’ll occasionally quietly transport marines and special forces long distances.

            I disagree that 2D radar would be adequate to upgun to corvette level, surface gunnery only, and claiming you can’t refuel helicopters without a hangar seems weird. In fact I recall reading somewhere that Rivers could do in-flight refuelling.

          • To be honest I think a better hot role would be using them as a mother for autonomous systems to patrol UK sea and sub sea infraction, under the UK air umbrella. But you could also use them for SF as they have the space and ribs for that.

        • Hi CGH. At 2000 tons and with a range of over 10 000 kms they are are more than up for Blue Water duties. Would be nice to see upgraded weaponary to enhance their capabilty just in case.

    • Well if you really want to understand the true power of a river just look at the Grand Canyon…I river may seem a placid thing but it remakes the landscape.

  5. Great work form these ships however I do wish that sending a river on a patrol of west Africa was not seen as a big deal.

    Having such a vessel permanently deployed in west Africa would seem like a good idea.

    • It is a big deal though or at least it was a couple of years ago when it was the first time the RN had been back to the Gulf of Guinea since the West Africa Squadron. Not to belittle your point though, I believe the plan was to base one of the Rivers in Gibraltar and have it spend half its time in the Gulf of Guinea and the other half in the Med. It IS important work: anti-piracy/crime and protection of the regional fishing grounds/ecosystem for the regional population/economy.

      • For a permanent unit to patrol of the Gulf of Guinea maybe.
        On the way back from the millennium Southlant we had the West Africa carp runs ashore trip.
        South Africa, Namibia, Nigeria, Ghana, Sierra Leone, Ivory Coast, Senegal, Cape Verde, Mauritania, and Morocco. There may have also been one or two others (Guinea and Gabon) that where equally as forgettable to visit.
        Cape Verde, Namibia (Walvis Bay) and South Africa (Cape Town) were rather good though!

        • Be the end if the century Nigeria may be the biggest country in the world and this area could be of vital import to everyone. Better to get in early.

        • Got absolutely smashed in the Hard Rock Café in Cape Town. Where I blame the drinking games that were necessary for maintaining one-up relations with the Russian sailors that were in port. Neutrality had to be maintained through Captain Morgan’s Spicy. What made it worse was we had to parachute the next day. There’s nothing like the the rush of air to clear a fogged head!

          • We berthed at V& A waterfront.
            It was 14 Rd to the pound when we were there. Steak meal, beer and change from around 5 quid!
            England Vs South Africa at cricket as well.
            SOCS on New Years Day looking for millennium bugs was interesting and very very painful.

        • I always found curious that English speaking people translates one of names of Cabo Verde islands.

          It would have been Cape Green.

      • I agree, the annual cost of running something like a River class is pretty low. Running two from Gib or one in Gib and one in free town should be very doable.

    • Unfortunately we only have five B2 Rivers and the current mad plans are to pull back four to the UK when the B1s are withdrawn in 2028. We could really do with more out there rather than fewer. I’d also put one in South Pacific, maybe working out of Samoa.

      Perhaps West Africa could become a future haunt of one of the T31s. Having a frigate doing South Atlantic patrol again also might be useful.

      • More patrol boats would be nice or T31s.
        Even with the type 31 it only replaces the frigates that are in service already.

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