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Royal Navy - Offshore Patrol Vessel /
OPV P 223 HMS Medway |
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| 01/23 | ||
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Type,
class: Offshore Patrol Vessel - OPV; River class,
Batch 2 Builder: BAE Systems Naval Ships, Govan (ship) + Scotstoun (fitting out) Shipyards, Glasgow, Scotland, U.K. STATUS: Awarded: August 2014 Laid down: June 8, 2015 Launched: August 23, 2017 Christened: October 20, 2017 Commissioned: September 19, 2019 IN SERVICE Homeport: HMNB Portsmouth, Hampshire, UK Namesake: River Medway, England Technical Data: see INFO > River class Offshore Patrol Vessel |
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                                         DS30M Mark 2 Automated Small Calibre Gun (ASCG)     christening ceremony - Govan, Glasgow, Scotland - October 2017  christening ceremony - Govan, Glasgow, Scotland - October 2017  |
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HMS Medway (P 223): On 6 November 2013, it was announced that the Royal Navy had signed an agreement in principle to build three new offshore patrol vessels based on the River-class design (more specifically, the larger Amazonas-class corvette derivative) at a fixed price of £348 million, including spares and support. In August 2014, BAE Systems signed a contract to build the ships on the River Clyde in Scotland. The ships, which were designated Batch 2 of the River-class, were to be globally-deployable and capable of carrying out constabulary tasks, such as counter-terrorism, counter-piracy and anti-smuggling. As the first ship of the new batch, Medway included some 29 modifications and enhancements over the baseline Amazonas design. Steel was cut, marking the start of construction of Medway, on 8 June 2015 at BAE Systems Govan shipyard in Glasgow. Rather than being launched in the traditional manner, Medway was rolled onto a semi-submersible barge and lowered into the water on 23 August 2017 and was officially named a few weeks later on 20 October 2017. Builder's sea trials began on 9 November 2018 and were completed by 11 December 2018. Her sea trials were completed in only 75 days, a record not seen since World War II. She was then transferred to the Royal Navy on 5 March 2019. Operational history: Medway was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 19 September 2019. Arriving via her namesake river, her commissioning ceremony took place at the former Royal Navy Chatham Dockyard in Kent with her sponsor, Lady Fallon, the wife of former Defence Secretary Sir Michael Fallon in attendance. In the following month, her first operational tasking saw her escorting a Russian Navy cruiser through the English Channel. Caribbean: In January 2020, Medway embarked on her first overseas deployment, assigned to Atlantic Patrol Task (North) on long-term guardship duties in the Caribbean. She made a stop for final supplies and fuel in Gibraltar in what was her first visit to the territory. After arriving in the Caribbean, Medway joined Royal Fleet Auxiliary support ship RFA Argus to form a task group, offering nearby British Overseas Territories a range of support from disaster relief during the hurricane season to tackling all forms of illicit trafficking. The deployment also coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic and both ships were reported to be on standby to offer any support, if required. The Governor of the British Virgin Islands subsequently requested the assistance of Medway in securing the territory's borders in an effort to control the spread of the virus in late September. Mid-September also saw the involvement of Medway in a large counter-narcotics operation in conjunction with Argus, 47 Commando (Raiding Group) Royal Marines and the United States Coast Guard. The operation lead to the seizure of cocaine with a UK street value of £81 million, according to the National Crime Agency. In October 2022, Medway was involved in another drug bust. She seized more than 400 kg (880 lb) of cocaine worth an estimated £24m. Three smugglers were detained and the vessel was destroyed. On 6 January 2023, Medway rescued five people from an ocean-going tug in strong winds near Sint Maarten after receiving an SOS message; the tug later sank. source: wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Medway_(P223) |
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River Medway ... is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald, Sussex and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent, before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, a total distance of 70 miles (113 km). About 13 miles (21 km) of the river lies in Sussex, with the remainder being in Kent. It has a catchment area of 930 square miles (2,409 km2), the second largest in southern England after the Thames. |
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