HMS Trent has joined the fight against piracy in West African waters, say the Royal Navy.

HMS Trent will help protect more than £6 billion of UK trade that passes through the region.

According to the Royal Navy here:

“HMS Trent is in the Gulf of Guinea – one of the world’s piracy hotspots – as the UK looks to improve security and help prevent widespread piracy which has seen international shipping suffer, seafarers’ lives put in danger and damage caused to the economies of nearby nations. HMS Trent carries a specialist team of Royal Marines from 42 Commando who are experts in boarding operations, known officially as Maritime Interdiction Operations. The commandos have been sharing knowledge and expertise in the skills needed to board, search and – if needs be – seize suspect vessels.”

HMS Trent’s Commanding Officer, Commander Tom Knott, was quoted as saying:

“I am extremely proud that HMS Trent is spearheading the Royal Navy’s return to West Africa and the Gulf of Guinea. My Sailors and Royal Marines are highly trained in the delivery of Maritime Interdiction Operations and are working alongside regional partners to re-establish our understanding of this complex and vast waterspace.

Alongside the UK’s 2021 co-chairing of the G7++ Friends of Gulf of Guinea we are targeting a collaborative approach to improving maritime security and to reassure the merchant shipping community. This will be an enduring commitment to West Africa. So far we’ve already enjoyed hosting school children, conservation groups, government representatives and military leaders on board Trent to build stronger links with the community and explain exactly why the Royal Navy is deployed to this region.”

You can read more here.

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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45 COMMENTS

  1. Good news and a good start to my day. The reassurance provided and relationships built by the crews of these forward based Rivers is priceless.

    • Things we never could have done without the extra hulls, and I expect more of the same once escort numbers rise.
      Proof that, as they say, any hull is a goal.

      • Absolutely. The 5 Batch 2 Rivers enabled CSG2021.
        I wouldn’t say the River 2 is any hull. With the Schiebel and RM it delivers equivalent anti-piracy function to a frigate at a fraction of the running costs – same endurance, half the crew and much lower fuel consumption.
        And with its large flight deck and crane it has potential for other roles.

    • There is only one continent where their collective sovereignties can be violated with so much impunity because their political leaders are inept, self-serving and wicked that they failed to ensure law and order in their respective countries. If Nigeria is imploding by force of bigotry, will defence of territorial water be a priority? Absolutely, NO!

      • I agree that Nigeria has more serious issues; corruption and security are debilitating problems. But that does not negate the case for HMS Trent patrols; it reinforces it. We need to safeguard UK trade routes in the region. We need to be present there before the Chinese arrive with their cheap credit and who knows offers of security boots on the ground. I am hoping HMG is negotiating to base a battalion of the new Rangers in west Africa, hopefully Nigeria. I’m sure a sovereign Nigeria would prefer to sort the problems itself. The president is a Muslim so accepting help from a bunch of Christian ‘crusaders’ to bolster the fight against Islamists could also be a sensitive political issue. Votes would be at stake.

      • Dunno. My guess is spirits will be high; busy purposeful deployment, and generous well equipped accomodation for all ranks on the batch 2 Rivers.

  2. And yet again the RN are cutting about and doing what they do best. It seems like the RN have not stopped over the last few tears and the intensity of deployments with limited numbers is impressive to say the least. Well done all round. Now, can some of your head sheds pop along and show the Army how to prep and plan for the future.

      • Absolutely, it seems the RN are really getting back into their international stride after many years of being sidelined during the desert wars, with governments of both colours savagely cutting the Navy to pay for their never ending counter insurgency campaigns.

        Today the Senior Service has its PR totally nailed and is demonstrating its relevance and value to the tax payer in the post Afghanistan / Brexit world.

        To a slightly lesser degree perhaps, the RAF seems to have a bold vision of its future and a plan in place to get there.

        The Army on the other hand seems to have lost its way somewhat and is now playing catch up…..

    • Just my view…
      Agree the RN have done well. The key issue they faced up to with forward basing was breaking the fixed 1:1 style relationship between crew and ship. Traditionally ‘She’, the physical hull, has been the focus around which unit survival, identity and team spirit are built. Ships are dedicated, launched, blessed. They are what stands between you and the ocean deep. They’re your mum.
      I think the army have learned from the RN. The equivalent issue for the army is the regimental cap badge. That’s your ‘mother ship’, your family. In fairness the army has a lot more ‘ships’ crews to reorganise. Feuding families 🙂
      The formation of a new Ranger regiment to which a soldier can xfer is a creative but realistic acceptance of reality; it preserves that sense purpose, regimental identity and family. Instead of making the brigade a permanent organisational unit ( which was Cameron’s idea I think) what they have done is to make the (Ranger) regiment multi skilled and self sufficient. In the process make the job more fulfilling and creating more attractive career opportunities. Add forward basing and rotating ‘crews’ with predictable home leave and job done.

      • Mate don’t disagree at all but the question is, if people can transfer to the Ranger Bns, a number of questions are to be asked. First what is the selection, and, if they are utilising full (half full lol) Bns to start with, are we really sure those Bns have the correct quality of troops. Also, who is doing the training, what are the training teams, in house? Brecon? SFSG? what’s the career path? And if the quality does become high, how about the other Bns in the “regular” army losing it’s more motivated men? And will they become a bit of a feeder route for SF selection, like the PARA Bns?

        Maybe I’m getting more cynical as I get older but I get the impression the whole thing is a bit of a fudge, a bit of an exercise in spin, where we keep the Bn framework, while being able to farm out the excess numbers elsewhere, as the number of 250-300 effectives seems to be the number we are working to.

        • Well, it IS a fudge. I am not qualified to give an opinion on the challenges you raise. On the + side there is now the germ of a new target organisation which looks realistic and a mechanism for migrating soldiers and skills from old to new. No doubt it will be like walking through treacle and will require a lot of forbearance but it can be done ….provided the powers that be don’t change their minds.

    • Well, apparently they acted in self defence. The embarked Danish naval special forces are equivalent to SBS, and it would seem quite bold (or rather, stupid) to start a fire fight with them.

      • Hi PeterDK,

        I know someone who served on our patrols off Somalia back in the late 90’s. They told me that after a brush with pirates themselves they returned to port and pulled up behind a French frigate.

        The French were still crying with laughter into their wine after they had arrested a punch of pirates who tired to sieze their ship!

        I kid you not, they came aboard over the stern and the French sailors just pointed lots of guns at them and slapped the cuffs on, apparently…

        Cheers CR

        • Hi CR,
          Thanks, interesting story….makes you wonder if they are doped up when they are on their raids. Or being fanatic.

          Cheers,
          PeterDK

  4. Hi folks hope all is well.
    Great to see,, some of “global Britain” in action. The Royal Navy is one of the best and most capable navies in the world, to deploy and sustainable across the globe if required to do so.
    Cheers
    George

  5. Very interesting. Hopefully this demonstrates to some of the naysayers one occasionally hears that RN vessels don’t need to be armed like Kirov class battle-cruisers to be really, really useful.

    • In fairness they don’t. But the issue is more a case we don’t have any vessels armed like Kirovs, with the additional issue of us building new vessels – Type 31s that are more poorly armed than the older vessels they are intended to replace……

      • How many of the massive system on a Kirov actually work?

        Some of them are so old that even with upgrades they would be of more danger to the mother ship than the enemy.

        Are more valid ship for modern terms would be a T26 which will have real ASW teeth as well as having a Mk41 VLS which can do land attack as well as AAW depending on that is in it. Rounded off with a 5″ gun that will given anyone something to think about. The combo of the 2 x Phalanx + 2 x 30mm cannon + Ceptor will be more than adequate for self defence. I’m not sure why in the real world you would need more than that – other than perhaps a bigger VLS silo.

        At the risk of repeating myself we may very well see T31 with Mk41 VLS: following on from 1SL’s comments to the Defence Select Committee. ASW on the T31 is almost certainly going to be drone based and as it does have a hangar and a good big flight deck a number of drones can be carried as well as a helo. That may well be the PODs that T31 ends up with.

        • The T26 availability will be very tight at only 8 ships, so eventually 6 for ASW taskings and 2 to accompany the only one CSG. That’s why I think 2 more T26’s should be built.

        • Mid 70ts did a Soviet recognition study ,Sweldovs and Kirovs weapon systems and capabilities .it was judged that they would be unable too execute not more than 2 Automatic systems at the same time ,SB

          • There was also the physical issue of how massive a lot of the rockets were: so if you tried to fire a salvo you’d probably flip the ship over.

            Then the massive heat dissipation issue which limits salvo rate.

            They sure looked impressive but as we all found out post Glasnost even the crews didn’t believe most of the systems would work.

          • Aways wondered, about the level of Soviet dedication, of a Russian Sailor ,after watching armed guards on the upperdeck wf their Med fleet anchored of Libya in 78

        • Two of the Kirov’s have gone to the scrap yard, one is in reserve/refit and the other one is in service. I think the two left are 30 years old ?

  6. Good stuff. Just add one Schiebel camcopter and job done….or even something else to broaden the overall area picture.
    AA

  7. If they ever get Asi’s runway fixed would be perfect place to launch (Reapers/Protectors) from, add an S-100 on the B2 would have really good coverage and increase crew situational awareness 10 fold

  8. Being ready to fight a peer conflict and being able to strike other nations, support operations against other nations is a fundamental part of the RNs role, but it’s not the day job. it’s good to see that they are also starting to get more resources to do the day job which is keeping the sea lanes safe for the life blood of our nation, open trade routes.

    • Hi Jonathan,

      I couldn’t agree more.

      The UK and NATO needs to plan for and prepare for the Third Battle of the Atlantic.

      Two world wars deomonstrate why that is, we very nearly lost both. If we are prepared for it we are less like to have to actually fight it. Deterence is something we need to consider as China is a rapidly rising naval power and is looking to develop overseas basing through its Belt and Road Initiative.

      Kenya appears to be in the sights now, but my real concern is Russia. With Climate Change the North East Passage is now open during most summers to merchant traffic, with Russian ics breakers acting as escort. Doesn’t take much to imagine a Chinese task force sailing to Russian Northern Fleet bases for exercises and just not going home one Autumn. That would seriously challenge the balance of power in the North Atlantic.

      Cheers CR

  9. A better title might have been, “Update on HMS Trent’s Gulf of Guinea Deployment”. I only mention that because they’ve been there several weeks. I thought maybe we’d see a longer article over at NavyLookout about this deployment and the batch II River’s fit for the role, that also has some historical context (West Africa Squadron). It would make for a fun read.

  10. How refreshing to read positive comments of the utility of these ships for a change rather than the usual “it needs this and that”

      • …from people who only want to post positive or constructive comments rather than defamatory one liners and dross.
        AA ⚓️

    • Nah, still needs a 20″ laser cannon, mate. Chuck on a few daleks and a F35 and I’ll be happy.

      Without trying to quote the usual speel, this is the perfect little deployment for the Rivers, and it offers a chance to engage with partners that we have sadly neglected for a little while. It also shows the value of Gib and forward-basing ships there. More of this, please!

      • Being realistic we could put a 5inch gun, 24 Seaceptor, 8 heavyweight ASMs, a hanger for a merlin, x2 CIWs and some lightweight torpedos. Cram in the 140ish crew…… it would be lovely and I’m sure the stability issues and crew conditions could be managed by leaving them in harbour all the time.

    • Yep the RN needs a day job type vessel as well as the fighting a peer enemy type ship. It’s often forgotten that the role of a navy is far more complex outside of war than say an Army ( which outside of war is fundamentally there as a deterrent and to prepare for war). So for all the huge number of day job tasks, anti piracy, preventing illegal trades, disaster management, keep sea lanes protected form threats etc, cheap utility vessels are needed. The 17-18c navy had unrated vessels, the Victorian and Edwardian navy had gunboats and the 20-21c navy has parol vessels like the rivers, they only need a low end medium gun, some ribs, spaced for boarding parties etc. Anything more costs more and diverts crew and money from the war fighting assets. You can’t turn a patrol boat into a warship, it’s wasteful and puts the crews in danger.

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