British Navy Offshore Patrol Vessel HMS Trent P224 is now in Mediterranean for NATO operations.

According to information released by the Royal British Navy on August 21, 2020, the new Offshore Patrol Vessel HMS Trent P224 of the British Navy is now in the Mediterranean with NATO on maritime security operations having sailed from Portsmouth after her commissioning earlier this month.
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New British Navy Offshore Patrol Vessel HMS Trent P224 is now in the Mediterranean for NATO operations. (Picture source British Navy)

Her time sailing from the UK to her first port visit at Gibraltar gave the ship’s company time to train hard for the operations ahead. Heading south towards the sunshine of the Med, Trent’s sailors not only fired the full suite of weapons on board but also trialed future weapons for the Maritime Warfare Centre.

The 30mm automatic small-caliber gun is the tip of the Trent spear and the gunners made the most of the good conditions in the Bay of Biscay to test their abilities with it.

Alongside the gunnery exercises, the River-class patrol ship carried out emergency training so those on board remain at the top of their game and ready to respond quickly. This included man overboard training, involving everyone on board from the Officer of the Watch to the seaboat coxswains.

The engineers on board were also put to the test with machinery breakdown drills and steering gear breakdown drills to ensure the crew are capable of responding at a moment’s notice if something breaks. Several new members of the HMS Trent family used this time to gain familiarity with their new ship as they work towards endorsement.

The HMS Trent is a Batch 2 River-class offshore patrol vessel built by BAE Systems for the Royal British Navy. She made her first entry into Portsmouth Harbour on 19 December 2019 and was commissioned on 3 August 2020. 

The River class is a class of offshore patrol vessels built primarily for the Royal British Navy. A total of nine were built for the British navy, four Batch 1 and five of the significantly different Batch 2. One Batch 1 (HMS Clyde), which was the Falklands guard-ship, has been decommissioned and sold to the Royal Bahrain Naval Force.

The Batch 2 ships are fundamentally different in appearance and capabilities from the preceding Batch 1. Notable differences include the 90.5 meters (296 ft 11 in) long hull, a top speed of 24 knots (44 km/h; 28 mph), Merlin-capable flight deck, a displacement of around 2,000 tonnes[ and greatly expanded capacity for accommodating troops. The Batch 2 ships also have a different (full width) superstructure, and a fundamentally different above-water hull form shape (greater bow flare, different & less-pronounced forward knuckle line compared to the Batch 1 ships, lack of the distinctive fwd & aft bulwarks of the Batch 1 vessels).

The HMS Trent is armed with one 30 mm DS30B gun, a ship-protection system made by MSI-Defence Systems consisting of a 30mm Mark 44 Bushmaster II cannon on an automated mount, two General purpose 7.62mm machine guns, and two  Miniguns.