Glasgow built Offshore patrol vessel HMS Medway has arrived in her home port of Portsmouth for the first time.

Medway is the second of five Batch 2 River Class vessels ordered for the Royal Navy, she arrived in portsmouth on the 17th of June 2019.

The Royal Navy say that these ships are designed to carry out maritime security roles in Home waters or globally including; anti-smuggling, fishery protection, border patrols, counter-terrorism and counter-piracy.

Commander Simon Pressdee, Commander of the Fishery Protection Squadron, said in a news release from the Royal Navy on the day the vessel entered:

“Today is a significant step in HMS Medway’s journey and a great achievement for both the Ship’s Company and our industrial partners in BAE Naval Ships who built her. Medway now enters the next phase of force generation which will see her develop into a warship and made ready for sustained patrol operations in the new year.”

Rear Admiral Jim Higham, senior officer responsible for the Batch 2 River Class programme, said:

“It is a great pleasure to welcome HMS Medway on her first arrival into Portsmouth. Today is the culmination of a great deal of hard work and dedication from the Ship’s Company as well as from our partners across Defence and in UK industry. It is an honour to stand alongside their families and friends who have provided such steadfast support and are critical to this success.”

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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26 COMMENTS

  1. 1x spare pack of nuts and bolts included. When does she set sail for Gibraltar?
    I thought we’d run out of fish anyway thanks to our French cousins!

    • We will do if they don’t stop over fishing. Give the poor creatures a chance to reproduce.

      Let Spain play it’s games. They are impotent.

      • Unfortunately we can not stop them fishing in international waters without an international agreement… This is the biggest myth of Brexit (ie it will stop EU nations fishing the same areas as the UK). We have jurisdiction over 12 miles from the coast. After that it is a free for all whether we are in the EU or not. In fact we probably have more control over this from within the EU than from outside of it.

        • By “They” I mean everyone. Ours, French, Spanish, we as a species over fish and it needs to be managed, regardless of Brexit.

          • The 200 km limit does not cover surface waters and so can not be applied to fishing… It is for underwater resources, the surface is still international waters.

      • useless ships why does it take a bunch of dozy second rate clyde shipbuilders 4 years to build one? type 26 we’ll be lucky if we see one before 2025

        • Your hopes are won’t come to fruition – HMS Glasgow is planned to be fully operational by 2027,although she will be in the water before that.

          • not my hopes, you need to consider the context that a point is made about,the sooner, glasgow et al are built, operational and in the fleet the better. clear?

  3. Slightly off topic. HMS ENTERPRISE is holding an open day in London this Sat. The event is tickets only but you can book one by googling:
    HMS ENTERPRISE Ship Open To Visitors
    Thames Quay opposite South Quay DLR Station.Marsh Wall, London

    • i was on enterprises pre dessessor, the wooden inshore survey ship, the three ships enterprise, echo and egeria were great little ships although the single manual pump out toilet was a letdown.

  4. Worryingly, I think commander Simon Pressdee needs to find out the difference between a warship and an Off Shore Patrol Ship…..

    • In extremis the R2 could be a worthwhile combat asset. It has an armoured magazine, combat standard redundancy and fire-fighting and can defend itself inshore against FAC. For offensive capability for the likely duration of an engagement it would rely on a Wildcat’s Sea Venom and Martlet. It can rearm and refuel both Wildcat and Merlin. Decoys and a bow sonar would be nice though. Be interesting to see whether Apache is included in the helicopter trials….but then maybe I am describing T31. With apologies to the Bard and Richard III, ‘A helicopter, a helicopter, my kingdom for a helicopter’.
      A Hellfire could do a lot of damage to a ship. And Wiki says the latest Brimstone has a range of up to 25miles. I think there are plans to put Brimstone on Apache.

      • look at the near identical specs of the sigma 10514 corvette. 10 meters longer same beam and draft 20 more crew, 5 knots faster, has 4 exocet, twin triple torpedo launchers twin quad anti air missile launchers a 76mm oto melara gun. that shows what can be done with this size of platform we’ve plenty of batch 1 and 2 rivers ALREADY BUILT.

        • This has been covered before. In addition to ASW and AAW escorts the RN clearly wants a mix of specialised OPVs and GP frigates as distinct ship types: River 2 and Type 31
          As I understand it, although there is some overlap, the design requirements optimised in order of priority are…
          OPV…fisheries, humanitarian aid, trip wire presence, constabulary duties (occasional helo)
          GP frigate……..gunboat diplomacy, GP singleton warship (organic helo), UUV etc mother ship, constabulary, humanitarian aid

      • I’ve just looked at the Naval Today site and the description of the PPA. At 132 metres it sure ain’t an OPV, it’s very close to the proposed spec for a T31. I suspect that the Italian Navy got the programme funded by arguing that what they wanted was really only a very small patrol craft, and have now got a class of frigates by stealth. Good on them.
        I also liked the fact that they appear to have adopted the “for but not with” principle, in that all the mountings are built in, along with the wiring etc, and a new weapon can then be bolted on when needed. I just hope they have them in store!

        • Yes it’s quite impressive however you look at it, comes in three variants to suit whatever role you need it for,it just seems far in advance of what is proposed for the Type 31.

          • a batch 2 type 21 would have been an almost perfect base for the t31 which i don’t believe will even happen

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