A patrol boat is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border protection, immigration law-enforcement, search and rescue duties. There have been many designs for patrol boats. They may be operated by a nation's navy, coast guard, police force or customs and may be intended for marine or estuarine or river environments. They are commonly found engaged in various border protection roles, including anti-smuggling, anti-piracy, fisheries patrols, and immigration law enforcement. They are also often called upon to participate in rescue operations.
The River class is a class of offshore patrol vessels built primarily for the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom. A total of nine were built for the Royal Navy (RN), four Batch 1 and five Batch 2. One Batch 1 (HMS Clyde), which was the Falklands guard ship, was decommissioned and transferred at the end of its lease to the Royal Bahrain Naval Force.
Standing Royal Navy deployments is a list of operations and commitments undertaken by the United Kingdom's Royal Navy on a worldwide basis. The following list details these commitments and deployments sorted by region and in alphabetical order. Routine deployments made by the Navy's nuclear-powered submarines and their location of operations is classified.
HMSML Gleaner (H86) was the smallest commissioned vessel in the Royal Navy, at the time of her decommissioning, with a length of just under 15 metres and a ship's company of just nine. She was based in Devonport, Plymouth. The ship prefix "HMSML" stands for Her Majesty's Survey Motor Launch.
The Gibraltar Squadron is a unit of the British Royal Navy. It is the only seagoing Royal Naval unit based in Gibraltar, attached to British Forces Gibraltar. It currently includes two Cutlass-class fast patrol boats with a maximum speed of up to 41-knots. The first new vessel of this class, HMS Cutlass, arrived in Gibraltar in November 2021, followed by the second vessel in March 2022. The squadron also uses three Pacific 24 rigid-hulled inflatable boats, crewed by a team of 26 people. The 2021 defence white paper indicated that henceforth, one River-class offshore patrol vessel, HMS Trent, would also be permanently based in Gibraltar for operations in the Mediterranean and in the Gulf of Guinea.
HMS Ranger is an Archer-class patrol and training vessel of the British Royal Navy, based in HMNB Portsmouth. She is affiliated to Sussex and Brighton Universities' University Royal Naval Unit, which has its offices at the University of Sussex, Brighton. Her badge is a ship's wheel superimposed on seven blue roundels, representing the seven seas.
HMS Pursuer is an Archer-class P2000 patrol and training vessel of the Royal Navy.
HMS Example is an Archer-class patrol and training vessel of the Royal Navy, based at HMS Calliope in Gateshead, England. Example was originally built for the Royal Naval Auxiliary Service, and was transferred to the Royal Navy when the RNXS disbanded in 1994. On transfer, she retained her name, and became the first ship in the Royal Navy to bear that name.
The S class was a class of 67 destroyers ordered for the Royal Navy in 1917 under the 11th and 12th Emergency War Programmes. They saw active service in the last months of the First World War and in the Russian and Irish Civil Wars during the early 1920s. Most were relegated to the reserve by the mid-1920s and subsequently scrapped under the terms of the London Naval Treaty. Eleven survivors saw much action during the Second World War.
The Archer class is a class of patrol and training vessel in service with the United Kingdom's Royal Navy, commonly referred to as a Fast Training Boat. Most are assigned to Coastal Forces Squadron. HMS Tracker and HMS Raider are armed and provide maritime force protection to high value shipping in the Firth of Clyde and are most commonly employed as escorts for submarines transiting to Faslane. Pursuer and Dasher were also armed during their deployment on maritime force protection duties with the Gibraltar Squadron from 2020-2022.
HMS Dasher is an Archer-class P2000 patrol and training vessel of the British Royal Navy. Dasher was built at Vosper Thorneycroft and commissioned in 1988.
HMS Explorer is an Archer-class P2000-type patrol and training vessel of the British Royal Navy. The ship is primarily assigned to the Yorkshire Universities Royal Naval Unit (URNU), serving the universities of Hull, Sheffield and Leeds. The ship is based in Kingston-Upon-Hull and mainly operates on the East coast of the UK, particularly in and around the river Humber.
HMS Scimitar was a Scimitar-class fast patrol boat of the British Royal Navy. She is a Lifespan Patrol Vessel type boat and formerly served in inland waterway duties in Northern Ireland as MV Grey Fox. She was acquired to serve with the Gibraltar Squadron, tasked with policing, customs and search and rescue duties. This released an Archer-class patrol vessel for tasking with the Cyprus Squadron.
HMS Sabre was a Scimitar-class fast patrol boat of the British Royal Navy. She was commissioned into the Gibraltar Squadron on 31 January 2003 along with her sister Scimitar, and used for police, customs and rescue purposes. The two boats allowed the two Archer-class patrol vessel of the squadron, Trumpeter and Ranger, to be reassigned to the Cyprus Squadron in April 2003 and April 2004 respectively.
Three vessels of the Royal Navy have been called HMS Sabre after the weapon:
In 1989 the Royal Navy was under the direction of the Navy Department in the UK Ministry of Defence. It had two main commands, CINCFLEET and Naval Home Command.
HMS Magpie is a survey ship of the Royal Navy, intended for use on inshore and coastal survey work. Magpie replaced HMS Gleaner. She was accepted by the RN in May 2018 and commissioned on 28 June 2018.
HMS Cutlass is a Cutlass-class fast patrol boat of the British Royal Navy. She is a fast patrol boat with a maximum speed around 41 knots designed for sovereignty protection and coastal security duties. She arrived in Gibraltar in November 2021 after undergoing sea trials in Liverpool. The boat was formally handed over to the Royal Navy in March 2022.
The Cutlass class is a class of fast patrol boat of the British Royal Navy.
Royal Navy 