The Royal Navy say that the Type 45 Destroyer has had her ‘second significant drugs bust in as many months’.
The Type 45 seized 2,500kg of hashish worth £1 million in the Indian Ocean. A
“Portsmouth-based HMS Defender has been operating in support of Combined Task Force 150 – an international team keeping the seas of the Gulf secure. The drugs bust unfolded after Defender launched her Wildcat helicopter to begin a search for possible illegitimate marine traffic in the Indian Ocean. Before long, a suspicious dhow was identified and HMS Defender sent a boarding team of Royal Marine Commandos, commanded by RM Lieutenant Ben Clink, to investigate.”
Commander Richard Hewitt, the Commanding Officer of HMS Defender, said:
“Once again Defender has been able to seize a significant amount of narcotics, reinforcing the Royal Navy’s commitment to ensuring maritime security by disrupting the operations of drug smugglers and terrorists.”
Armed Forces Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan, said:
“Thanks to the work of HMS Defender and her crew, these drugs will never reach the street and the criminal organisations responsible will be dented financially. The substantial seizures made by the Combined Task Force are testament to the seamless co-operation between our international partners that keeps our citizens safe.”
This is a true waste. using a state of the art asset in this manner when we are so short of ships in the first place. We need more smaller batch 2 type ships to do jobs like this. Hashish I mean its not like its a class A drug. A lot of countries have legalised it as we should. Or at least decriminalise so recourse’s can be used were most needed.
It is doing what every ship in the Fleet does. Maritime Security Patrol. You don’t do AAW everyday on a T45 the same as you don’t do ASW everyday on a T23.
When sailing around you look out for suspicious activity and act upon it. As a ship in CTG 150 she can easily chop into any of the other CTGs in the area should the need for a AAW destroyer exist.
Anyway that info is a little dated as they are alongside now chilling out and having a break from operations
I can understand what you are saying but look at it another way, thats another million £ not going to terrorists, people trafficers and criminals. All I can say is keep up the good work folks.
£141 million buys you one of these instead of £1 Billion + for a Type 45.
Granted they can perform this role admirably, but it would make more sense to have these permanently on station in the Gulf region I would have thought?
A ratio of roughly 5-1 including missiles etc.
Still, we have the Rivers to fall back on I guess.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visby-class_corvette
Interestingly, it seems the RN is looking to upgrade its B2 Rivers. Here is an article on Save the Royal Navy outline some options for the Navy.
https://www.savetheroyalnavy.org/enhancing-the-royal-navys-batch-ii-opvs/
Although, given the ‘cost’ of them at build I can’t help but wonder if getting at least a couple completed with some extra goodies fitted would have made some sense. Having said that B2’s do appear to have been completed to a pretty high spec with a protect magazine and a version of the BAES CMS, so integrating some extra sensors should be possible.
Given that the T31’s appear to be getting new Radar’s how about cross decking a couple of Artisan radars from retiring T23’s, assuming there is sufficent capacity in the CMS as currently fitted?
Thanks hadn’t seen that article on Save the Royal Navy. Very interesting. This is why we could do with a few more, which brings us back to funding or lack of.
Yeh, it would be nice to have a few more but most unlikely given the lack of money and commitment. It will be interesting to see how the T31 programme develops as they’ll need to order 1 or 2 more if the escort fleet is to grow as is the long ‘claimed’ intention!
Early upgrade of a couple of B2’s could be another indication of intent, but we’ll see. I would like to see an upgrade that fitted the radar and guns of the OPV Max option with the containerised hangar for UAV’s from the OPV Plus option, given the stated challenges of fitting a helicopter hangar. I also like the flexibility of containerised payloads allowing rapid re-roling of the vessels, which is a force multiplier all of its own.
This is the type of thing the the T31 when built should undertake ,some might think this is a waste of time cannabis low level drug etc but this type of thing finances global terrorism, as well as criminal gangs in the UK .Modern cannabis is way stronger than that the 60s hippies smoked and long term use may result in mental health issues.
Exactly. Dead on the streets of London (and increasing elsewhere) due to ‘turf wars’ over drug dealing. The money percolates back to people who wish Blighty and our friends serious harm.
Looks at the size of that flightdeck comapred with the Wildcat..
It is designed to be able to land and support a Chinook for short periods. Adds useful extra flexibility given that the carriers and amphibs are also Chinook capable. Also the US Navy Sea Knight could probably land on as well.
The hangar is capable of housing 2 Wildcats (most unlikely that would ever happen given the shortage of Wildcats!) or a single Merlin.
Wildcat and Seaspray radar strikes again. Was the interception made by RM in a rhib?
Would Puma and a River 2 been up to the surveillance task?
https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/drone-trials-take-place-on-hms-mersey/
Answers on a postcard…..
” … a boarding team of Royal Marine Commandos, commanded by RM Lieutenant Ben Clink, to investigate.”
Appropriate name. Great work chaps and chappeses. Communities in the U.K. being ripped apart by drugs.
Agreed it is unfortunate that so many people in the West insist on using illegal drugs. They are either too stupid or ignorant to realize the enormous cost people are paying for their habit or addiction.
The various nations supporting CTG 150, 151 and 152 are making busts every week. The French, Aussies, Canadians and the RN have had a lot of success interdicting dhows.
Its not only Skunk but Smack and Meth that have been found and not in small quantities either, hundreds of kilos in a lot of cases. The RAN vessels HMAS Warramunga ( 31.8 tonnes of hashish and two tonnes of heroin worth over 1 billion USD) ) and HMAS Ballarat
both ANZAC Frigates, where immensely successful in this in previous years.
Yes maybe a T31 would be ideal for this work but look at what the other nations are using all are front line/top end destroyers and frigates.
The Indian ocean is a busy place for drug smugglers and pirates.
https://combinedmaritimeforces.com/
A ‘Black Swan’ squadron of 3 upgraded River 2s, forward based, might make a very useful contribution. Equip them with a UAV, add Martlet on the 30mm and with one or two dozen RM for the RHIBS.