Royal Navy patrol vessel HMS Spey has showcased its gunnery prowess during Exercise La Pérouse, a multinational naval drill spearheaded by the French Navy in the Indo-Pacific region, according to a Ministry of Defence press release.
The exercise, part of the Clemenceau 25 mission led by France’s flagship aircraft carrier FS Charles de Gaulle, focused on securing three critical maritime choke points: the Malacca, Sunda, and Lombok Straits.
Together, these waterways handle over half of the world’s shipping traffic, making their security vital to global trade and stability.
As quoted in the press release, HMS Spey, currently deployed in the Indo-Pacific alongside her sister ship HMS Tamar, joined an elite task group comprising HMCS Ottawa (Canada), INS Mumbai (India), and other French naval units. The Royal Navy vessel participated in high-intensity scenarios in the Sunda Strait, a narrow waterway near the iconic Krakatoa volcano.
During the drills, HMS Spey was tasked with evading detection by a French frigate and a maritime patrol aircraft in the Java Sea. This was followed by a simulated aerial attack by fast jets launched from Charles de Gaulle. As the jets closed in, Spey’s crew executed rapid evasive manoeuvres while simultaneously responding to simulated strikes that required the ship’s firefighting teams to tackle a “major fire” under combat conditions.
“It got pretty intense,” said Able Seaman Ashley Sandbrook, who was part of the firefighting team, as quoted in the news release. “Your training kicks in, and everyone pulls together to do what needs to be done.”
The exercise culminated in a gunnery drill where HMS Spey’s crew delivered a standout performance. Initially tasked with engaging two of four targets laid by French frigates, Spey destroyed its first target with a precise opening salvo from its 30mm cannon.
The strike was so effective that exercise directors cancelled the second target shoot to ensure other ships had targets to engage.
The eight-day exercise, involving nine nations and spanning over 1,000 miles of ocean, provided a unique opportunity for HMS Spey to operate in a tactically demanding environment.
The French carrier
The FS Charles de Gaulle (R91) is a French Navy aircraft carrier and the first and only nuclear-powered carrier constructed by France. Commissioned in 2001, it is named after Charles de Gaulle, the French military leader and president.
It is 261.5 metres long, displaces approximately 42,000 tonnes, and serves as the flagship of the French Navy. It is equipped to operate as a mobile airbase, supporting a variety of fixed-wing aircraft and helicopters.
The vessel is equipped with a CATOBAR (Catapult Assisted Take-Off But Arrested Recovery) system, which enables it to launch and recover aircraft efficiently. Its air wing typically includes Dassault Rafale M multirole fighters and E-2C Hawkeye early warning aircraft. The Charles de Gaulle is powered by two K15 pressurised water reactors, giving it the ability to operate for extended periods without the need for refuelling.
The carrier has a crew of approximately 1,350 personnel, with an additional air group of up to 600. It is also equipped with modern radar systems, missile defence systems, and other advanced technologies to support its operations.
The ship has been deployed in a variety of missions, including combat operations and international naval exercises, demonstrating its versatility in different operational contexts.
Hopefully that lays to rest all the stories that the 30mm is manually aimed etc….
Fine vessels for presence and constabulary duties. Excellent training ground for officers and trades in a less complex ship where singular responsibilities rest on singular shoulders…..
No use at all for war fighting.
Upgrading to a 40mm upfront and some sort of hangar with maybe the 30mm on the roof would be nice to have on these B2 Rivers.
Congratulations. You’ve double the price per unit, increased the crew needed by 33% and halved the availability rates due to increased weapons and aircrew maintenance in one fell swoop.
Patrol ships don’t fight and we don’t need to waste time and money pretending they do, these B2s excell at their intended role in every corner of the planet. Adding weaponry that does nothing besides virtue signal is not a useful investment of resources, what makes patrol ships great is availability (something the B2s are brilliant for due to their design), surveillance capabilities (aided by the potent 2D radar and various onboard drones they already can operate without extensive aviation facilities) and modularity (that nice big open space at the back everyone wants to slap a hangar on let’s these ships do a hell of a lot more than the tin said they could). The 30mm DS30M is a great weapon system that paired with early warning from the ships radar is perfectly capable of C-UAS point defense (citing HMS Diamonds experience) and provides more than enough deterrence against anything they will come up against in the open ocean, on top of that it’s cheap and *most importantly* doesn’t dictate the ship to sit in dock of multiple weeks every year having maintenance performed on it like any heavier gun systems require.
DSTL and Babcock say that the newest 40mm mount actually needs less maintenance than the 30mm, so no, not really.
The extra flexibility of ammunition and the range boost would be a massive help to the range of possible targets for a River.
Not to mention the intimidation effect of a big grey turret on the bow rather than an overgrown RWS.
And Babcocks regularly as do all “defence ” contractors under estimate cotract costs (ie; exagerate everything) and can therefore NOT be trusted as to their ability to “maintanence” arrangements for equipment they wish the MOD to fit.!
The latest equivalent French patrol boats for Pacific and other ops have a 40mm cta and hangar. Its not a massive ask for a 40mm which would offer greater protection as well as projection. Adding on a hangar might be prohibitive but they could look at low cost amd innovative designs and may have to relocate or update the crane. Or, leave it as is and order a few more T31s!
I agree. The latest BAE Bofor 40mm with 3P smart shells are a valuable upgrade that should replace the 30mm canon. It’s a very capable system. Will give better range and protection despite its “virtue signalling” without extra time in port. Whilst built for constabulary duties as claimed in time of war they he’d to be capable of more. You’d also have a coupe of 20mm bushmaster cannons.
The effort is going into getting the T31s into service.
Don’t forget the MK41s and CIWS….sigh!
British warship? a joke surely? although there was a labour politician who referenced to them as mighty. our navy, if you take away the carriers is less capable than the Italian one embarrassing and I’m sick of it
I hope they have an opportunity to remember the brave RN crews lost in these water in 1942 as part of the ABDA strike force. Sadly many of wrecks have been pillaged by illegal Chinese salvagers but those sailors deserve to be remembered.
As for the exercise it is a great opportunity for RN officers relatively young in their careers to experience leadership in a far flung location that can only be good for them and the Navy. Indeed, even when we have more frigates available (2030s) allowing one or more of them to be be deployed to the region I would suggest HMS Tamar and Spey remain in theatre. The costs are peanuts but the benefits are significant both in developing relationships with allies, improving the skills of personnel and helping with recruitment.
The French war ministry are selling their stock of WW2 rifles they’ve never been fired and only dropped once. ♾️❤️☮️
England expects every man to do his duty.
British warship? a joke surely? although there was a labour politician who referenced to them as mighty. our navy, if you take away the carriers is less capable than the Italian one embarrassing and I’m sick of it
who’d want them?
British warship? a joke surely? although there was a labour politician who referenced to them as mighty. our navy, if you take away the carriers is less capable than the Italian one embarrassing and I’m sick of it
who’d want them?
Are you trying to trigger comments about dunkirk or Irak?
As a laymen , can these patrol vessels be upgraded for offensive capabilities or do they just have basic defence capabilities and if that is the case what is the point of them
Small nations look to the UK as a respected democracy with a military capability. The R2s were deployed in order to re-establish a UK presence in Asia Pacific, to reassure friends and influence new friends who might be a tad nervous and vulnerable at Chinese expansionism. They are there to build relationships by undertaking diplomatic and humanitarian aid tasks, perform constabulary and anti piracy work and to give small nations a friend to call on when they are threatened. At 2000 tons and with their camouflage paint job the R2 make an impression. In any deteriorating diplomatic scenarios their job is to be present and act as a trip wire, ideally for diplomatic activity rather than conflict.
Which ‘small nations’ in South East Asia precisely would call on a Rivers Class when they feel threatened?
The navies of Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei not to mention Australia all have frigates, corvettes or OPVs more heavily armed and more combat capable than a Rivers Class with a single 30mm gun.
Indonesia alone has a population of 277 million people – more than 200 million larger than the U.K. and a standing army of over 300,000 troops.
It is not the 19th century where British gun boat diplomacy would strike terror in the local natives! I think the RN needs to up the ante if they want to impress. How about that CSG then?
It’s not about Victorian era gunboat diplomacy, as you well know. The purpose of the R2s is to build networks not intimidate anyone. East Timor is a good example of an emerging nation with a ‘western’ culture we want to encourage. Stop over, tour of the ship, cocktail party, help the local school / hospital with a building extension, leave a calling card. Even the CSG has a diplomatic dimension albeit at another level. Make people stop and think before they do something stupid.
Australia has maintained close defence and civil aid links with Timor Leste (East Timor) since the Australian-led INTERFET mission that secured their independence from Indonesia. Australia helped them then to rebuild their schools, hospitals and infrastructure and continues defence and civil projects.
Defence cooperation includes combined exercises, training their forces and hosting their officer cadets for training at Duntroon and school and sporting visits by defence personnel.
Australia has built and donated 22 Guardian Class patrol boats to smaller South Pacific nations including two to Timor Leste with sea training and maintenance support. (Incidentally they can be armed with a variety of weapons including 30mm).
Timor Leste’s capital Dili is just 750 km north of Darwin and is closer to Darwin than any Australian state capital city and within the un refueled combat range of an F35A.
So thanks for the lesson in South Pacific diplomacy but I think we are already up to speed.
Still I hope they all enjoy the cocktail party – it’s just what every developing nation needs.
they are big enough to be upgraded to just about anything. the Thai navy has two identical ships and have added a 76mm to melara rapid fire main gun plus two extra 30mm cannon. one of those ships htmsKrabi, has also been fitted with a harpoon anti ship missile system. a capable vessel that our navy could well do with.
“The strike was so effective that exercise directors cancelled the second target shoot to ensure other ships had targets to engage.”
Those cheeky matelots must remember to share…
BZ HMS Spey.
In the third and major Lombok stage of the same French-led Exercise La Perouse, the RAN deployed the Tomahawk, NSM capable HMAS Hobart.
30mm? That’s not a knife. This (Tomahawk) is a knife.
Apologies to Crocodile Dundee.
Lions led by bankers. That’s the truth.
My hovercraft is full of eels.
The British Navy should get back to how it was ,we used to have the best Navy in the world , now it’s a shadow of its former self thanks to greedy Government cuts.