According to a news update from the Royal Navy, HMS Trent has departed Malta following a significant maintenance and upgrade period, marking her return to the fleet for the first time since last year’s deployment to the Caribbean.
The Portsmouth-based offshore patrol vessel has spent seven months in dry dock at Babcock’s facility in Malta, undergoing work that included enhancements to her flight deck lighting system and navigational lights, as well as a full overhaul of her radar.
She also became the final ship in her class to receive the Royal Navy’s signature World War II-inspired dazzle camouflage.
HMS Trent previously spent nine months in the Caribbean in 2023, where she played a prominent role in anti-drug operations and regional support. Her mission included the Royal Navy’s first recorded interdiction of a narco-submarine carrying cocaine.
The patrol vessel will now conduct flying trials in UK waters to certify the newly installed flight deck lighting system, which replaces older LEDs with a more advanced configuration. This makes Trent the first Royal Navy ship to receive the upgraded lighting. Additional work included replacing her incandescent navigation lights with modern LEDs.
Reflecting on the extended maintenance period, Commanding Officer Commander Tim Langford said, “Our time in Malta has been invaluable. We’ve completed a comprehensive maintenance period that’s left the ship in an excellent condition, and the Ship’s Company has made the most of their time alongside.” He added, “Our focus is now towards regaining our aviation currency before resuming our operational duties in the Caribbean later in the year.”
During the deployment in Malta, Trent’s ship’s company also took part in local commemorations, including Remembrance services and VE Day events in Valletta, and participated in adventurous training activities such as kayaking, mountain biking and fishing.
Engineering Technician (Weapon Engineering) Jack Fryer commented: “There’s been so much RN history that we’ve been able to explore. We’ve really been stepping in our forefathers’ footsteps; with the Royal Navy’s base of Mediterranean operations directly next to the dockyard.”
Before returning to the UK, HMS Trent will stop in Augusta, Sicily and Gibraltar. She is expected to resume her Caribbean duties in time for the annual hurricane season, which runs from June to November.
OT, anyone else seen Starmer blatantly lying over the 10 BILLION we are paying Mauritius over time, to take sovereignty of Chagos Islands?
He says 3 billion, then comes out with endless spin also to how that is measured.
As usual, the bloody journalists do not grill him properly, though he still looks like a rabbit in the headlights.
3 billion sounds better than 10, doesn’t so the spin doctors hope.
Just read a fine piece on X for balance. Labour cut the 2 LPDs,
the 2 Waves, Watchkeeper, Puma, to save up to 500 million over 5 years, around the amount we will be paying Mauritius in that same time frame under this farce.
I hope the wider great British Public takes note and these charlatans are out the door come next election.
The even greater farce is how they still describe the base as one we ourselves would use. When? With what assets? The facility is overwhelmingly American staffed, and Amerucsn assets use it.
We have a small RN Naval Party there, and no doubt the intelligence take, GPS, and Ocean Surveillance GS there enable British operations. That’s it.
One assumes as well that that money will be coming from the “Defence budget”? While the cuts continue?
So, so poor
Absolutely. And many (most?) of the surviving native population and their descendants oppose the deal!
It’s a colonial guilt bung to completely the wrong people!
TBF the express journo tackled him on does this open the door for the Argies but as usual he just muttered something and left it!
It seems his negotiating skills are zero,whoever has gone up against him they all come away with virtually everything they demanded!
The whole chagos question really pisses me off to be honest, in reality DG has literally zero geostrategic meaning to the UK, but it has massive geostrategic importance to the US, but it’s the UK that has been burning massive levels of geopolitical capital, fighting a losing law war and now having to pay 100 million a year..all so the U.S. can have an airbase it pays the UK zero for and suffers no loss of geostrategic capital..
Personally I think we should be getting the US to pay the 100 million a year or giving us something in return..
In reality I think HMG has been in a slowly worsening situation around the BIOT, the ITLOS ruling was the killer and it was going to likely end in a binding legal finding that would murder HMGs ability to manage the BIOT. Unfortunately law war is no a real thing and like political warfare the west is rubbish at it and getting its arse handed to it.
Ironically if the U.S. had not insisted that the UK move out the population, it would have been piss easy to defend against the law war attack on the BIOT, but without a resident population that supported the UK government it was a fight HMG was going to loss.
ITLOS, Law of the Sea?
International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. It’s the court that runs the rules around the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).
Unlike most of the UN this is a proper international court it makes a binding judgement and that’s it you follow it or every court on the planet will be a battlefield you loss on. It had made a none binding judgement last year in favour of Mauritius control of all the airspace and waters around chagos.. and the risk assessment said it was going to to make a binding judgement.. at that point any ship or aircraft going to or from DG without permission from Mauritius would have broken international law and Mauritius could take legal action against then.. any company moving personnel or supply’s would be at legal risk..
Also because now for all intent and purpose the body that oversees the law of the seas has said these seas were Mauritius seas they could invite who the hell they liked in including china or Russia…
Basically when you really dig into it the UK government had essentially lost a legal warfare campaign and became it was at the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea HMG was essentially fucked.. the US I suspect put massive pressure on HMG to do the deal.. because without it there was a real chance DG was done.
This is one of the less well known areas of Chinese political warfare.. it’s essentially using belt and roads to support lawwar mass in places like the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea.. and the west cannot just ignore it because it’s the west’s system… catch 22 for the west.
Hi J.
Thanks for that explanation.
So yes, HMG was screwed so I can respect that at least. So why the payments?
Just give the place to the US and they can ride roughshod over ITLOS like they do regards extradition.
I wonder what we got from the US in return?
Hi Daniele, this is the hard bit we will never be able to unpick.. I suspect the US was unwilling to essentially collapse the international systems its hegemony was build on just yet ( even though I think china has outmanoeuvre the west and subverted them ). So it put pressure on the UK to do a deal so it could keep its base and essentially the only way was to give the winner ( Mauritius) the legal version of blood money/tribute.. I suspect as for value you can see it in the UK being the only nation on the planet that can export steel aluminium into the US import tax free or cars at only 10% and airo industries and pharma tax free… I pretty much think this is why the Uk got the deal.. for essentially giving access to the tiny bit of US beef that’s not full of hormones… I would imagine there is more under the table.. but it’s inconceivable that the US is not backhanding money under the table for this.. because for geopolitical reasons the US cannot just hand a sublet 100 million cheque to the UK… but secrets are secrets so we can just guess.
The article states she is heading to the West Indies again. Is Medway being relieved again? I thought Trent’s patch was the Med and West Africa out of Gibraltar?
Perhaps she’s doing second ship for the hurricane season. We often had two before last year, with a single OPV being thought a bit small. Perhaps a second OPV was thought better than a Tide as there’s not much else can be sent.
HMS Bulwark? …..I’ll get my coat.
Such a stupid move.
The irony is that HADR is probably what Brazil will use them for.
HMS Daring is due to set sail (under tow) for Malta any day now, so that she can be returned to service sometime before 2035.
Sorry, I’m Malteasing you.
It’s a shame she didn’t receive a small telescopic hangar for drones like the Camcopter. Other than that, glad to see a useful and hardworking ship back and the fleet, and I hope there’s some provision for replacing their Batch 1 cousins soon enough.
Camcopter doesn’t even need a hangar. It can operate out of a 20′ container.
That’s useful. They can carry Martlet too, so giving the B2’s a Camcopter each would be a nice, and fairly affordable extra.
SDR 2069. After the “Reclaim the Chagos campaign”.
“A growing Royal Navy, punching above it’s weight”.