HMS Redpole (P259)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Redpole.

History
Royal Air Force
Name	Sea Otter
Operator	Royal Air Force Marine Branch
Ordered	26 March 1973
Builder	Fairmile, Berwick-upon-Tweed
Laid down	29 July 1974
Launched	20 September 1974
Commissioned	25 March 1975
Out of service	1985
Identification	IMO number:  8654314
Fate	Transferred to Royal Navy
Royal Navy
Name	HMS Redpole
Namesake	Redpoll
In service	1985
Out of service	1994
Identification	IMO number:  8654314
Fate	Sold in 2000 and renamed MV Badtz Maru [1]
Notes	[2]
General characteristics
Class & type	Bird-class patrol vessel
Displacement	159 long tons (162 t)
Length	120 ft (37 m) o/a
Beam	23 ft (7.0 m)
Draught	6.5 ft (2.0 m)
Propulsion	Two diesel engines, one to each shaft, all giving 4,000 brake horsepower (3,000 kW)
Speed	21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Range	2,200 nautical miles (4,100 km; 2,500 mi) at 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement	17
Notes	[2]

HMS Redpole (P259) was built in 1974 by Fairmile Marine at Berwick-upon-Tweed as RAFV Sea Otter, the third Seal class Long Range Recovery and Support Craft of the Royal Air Force Marine Branch. The Seal class was similar to the Bird-class patrol vessels of the British Royal Navy. . ^[2]

Royal Naval service

In anticipation of the disbandment of the RAF Marine Branch in 1986, Sea Otter was transferred to the Royal Navy on 30 October 1984. At Brooke Marine, Lowestoft, she was refitted - given armaments, a light grey livery, an enclosed wheelhouse and extended bridge wings, and modified several times over the years to help her in her role patrolling Northern Ireland. ^[1]

Post-UK service

As part of the cuts in the defence budget, Redpole was replaced in 1994 by a River-class minesweeper and was subsequently earmarked for disposal. ^[1]

The ship was sold in 1996 and spent four years in Southampton. The ship was sold again in 2000 to a founder of Digex, renamed RV Badtz Maru (after Bad Badtz-Maru), and moved to Baltimore, Maryland. ^{[1] [3]}

Since 2012, as Seaman Guard Virginia, she has participated in anti-piracy patrols conducted by maritime private military contractor AdvanFort in the Gulf of Aden. ^[1]

References

1. "Seal Class Long Range Recovery and Support Craft" . Retrieved 10 October 2010.
2. Cocker, Maurice (2006). Coastal Forces Vessels of the Royal Navy from 1865. Stroud: Tempus Publishing. p. 241. ISBN   075243862X.
3. Kahney, Leander (2 November 2002). "All Aboard! (But No PCs Allowed)". Wired Magazine . Retrieved 23 August 2015.