HMS Mersey, 2009
History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Mersey
OperatorRoyal Navy
OrderedApril 2001
BuilderVosper Thornycroft
Launched14 June 2003
Sponsored byMrs Jennie Reeve
Commissioned28 November 2003
HomeportHMNB Portsmouth
Identification
StatusIn active service
Badge
General characteristics
Class and typeRiver-class patrol vessel
Displacement1,700 tonnes (1,700 long tons)[1]
Length79.5 m (260 ft 10 in)
Beam13.5 m (44 ft 3 in)
Draught3.8 m (12 ft 6 in)
Installed power4,125 kW (5,532 hp) at 1,000 rpm
Propulsion2 × Ruston 12RK 270 diesel engines
Speed20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Range5,500 nmi (10,200 km; 6,300 mi)
Endurance21 days
Boats & landing
craft carried		Two rigid inflatable boats
Troops20
Complement30
Armament
NotesFitted with 25-tonne crane[2]

HMS Mersey is a River-class offshore patrol vessel of the British Royal Navy. Named after the River Mersey, she is the fifth RN vessel to carry the name and the first to be named Mersey in 84 years. Various tenders were renamed Mersey[3] during their service with Mersey Division Royal Naval Reserve (HMS Eaglet) between the early 1950s and late 1970s.

HMS Mersey was built by Vosper Thornycroft in Southampton, England to serve as a fishery protection vessel within the United Kingdom's waters along with her two sister ships Tyne and Severn. All three were commissioned into service in 2003 to replace the five older Island-class patrol vessels. She was commissioned into the Royal Navy on 28 November 2003. At that time, Mersey was not expected to commence duties until February 2004.

Mersey was the last Royal Navy ship to be launched from Vosper Thornycroft at its Woolston shipyard; Jennie Reeve, wife of Rear-Admiral Jonathon Reeve, Chief of Fleet Support, was the ship's sponsor.[4]

Operational history

Visiting Guyana in March 2016

For the first thirteen years of operation, Mersey carried out fishery protection duties around the United Kingdom.

In May 2012, Mersey became the first command of Sarah Oakley.[5]

In October 2013, Mersey was dry docked in Falmouth.

In January 2016, Mersey became the second River-class OPV to be deployed to the Caribbean Sea following on from her sister Severn in 2015. In May 2016, Mersey was dry docked in Martinique as part of her mid-deployment maintenance period. By July, Mersey had been relieved by RFA Wave Knight and was deployed on migrant patrols in the Aegean via a port call in Gibraltar. Mersey returned to Portsmouth on 10 February 2017 after 13 months away to resume her fishery protection duties.[6]

On 3 January 2019, Defence Secretary, Gavin Williamson confirmed that HMS Mersey has been deployed to assist UK and French authorities with illegal migrant crossings in the English Channel.[7]

Exended service

On 24 April 2017, in a written answer to a question raised by Sir Nicholas Soames, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Defence Harriett Baldwin stated that Mersey would be decommissioned in 2019.[8]

In March 2018, Baldwin's successor Guto Bebb revealed that £12.7M had been allocated from the EU Exit Preparedness Fund to preserve the three Batch 1 ships, should they be needed to control and enforce UK waters and fisheries following the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union.[9]

On 22 November 2018, Defence Secretary, Gavin Williamson, announced that three Batch 1 River-class ships would be retained in service and forward operated from their affiliated ports.[10] However, the idea of forward basing the Batch 1s was reportedly later abandoned. The ships are now to be retained in service until around 2028.[11] As of late 2023, Mersey was scheduled to begin a major refit.[12]

Freedom of Borough

HMS Mersey was affiliated to the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in 2003 and it was very fitting that in the year of the 80th anniverary of the Battle of the Atlantic that it was granted the Freedom of the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton on 13 April 2023.[13][14]

The Freedom of the Borough is the highest award the Council can bestow on a service unit and the Council resolution stated:

This Council wishes to place on record its high appreciation of, and the debt of gratitude of the Borough to HMS Mersey and in the light of the long and honourable association between the Borough of Sefton and the Royal Navy, resolves that the Honorary Freedom of the Borough of Sefton be conferred on HMS Mersey and that it be granted the right, privilege, honour and distinction of marching through the streets of the Borough on all ceremonial occasions with colours flying, bands playing, drums beating and bayonets fixed.[15]

Citations

  1. ↑ "Offshore Patrol Vessels". BAE Systems. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
  2. ↑ "River Class". Naval Technology. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
  3. ↑ Colledge & Warlow 2006, p. 224.
  4. ↑ "HMS Mersey to be final RN ship launched from Woolston". VT plc.
  5. ↑ John Periam, Geoffrey Lee, "LT CDR SARAH OAKLEY RN", shipsmonthly.com, 24 October 2013
  6. ↑ "Crowds gather to greet the return of HMS Mersey". ITV News. 10 February 2017. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  7. ↑ Ministry of Defence [@DefenceHQ] (3 January 2019). "Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has confirmed that @hms_mersey will deploy to the Dover Straits to assist the UK Border Force with migrant border crossings" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  8. ↑ Harriett Baldwin, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Defence (24 April 2017). "Warships and Submarines: Decommissioning: Written question – 71203". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons.
  9. ↑ Guto Bebb, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Defence (16 March 2018). "Ministry of Defence: Public Expenditure: Written question – 132371". Parliamentary Debates (Hansard). House of Commons.
  10. ↑ "MoD lifts axe on three Royal Navy patrol ships to boost UK fishery protection". Southern Daily Echo. 22 November 2018. Retrieved 27 November 2018.
  11. ↑ "Batch I River Class OPVs extended in service until 2028". Navy Lookout. 20 October 2021. Retrieved 16 August 2022.
  12. ↑ @NavyLookout (7 October 2023). "@NavyLookout. @hms_mersey arrived in Portsmouth this week for final time before going into major refit" (Tweet). Retrieved 7 October 2023 – via Twitter.
  13. ↑ "HMS Mersey sails into Sefton for historic Freedom ceremony". mysefton.co.uk. 31 March 2023. Retrieved 14 April 2023.
  14. ↑ "Honorary Freedom of the Borough". Retrieved 28 November 2023.
  15. ↑ "Extraordinary Meeting, Council". Sefton Council. 13 April 2023. Retrieved 2 December 2023.

References

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