Royal Navy River-class offshore patrol vessel HMS Mersey ready after maintenance.

According to a tweet published by the Royal Navy on July 5, 2021, River-class offshore patrol vessel HMS Mersey back in the water after the maintenance period.
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River-class offshore patrol vessel HMS Mersey (Picture source: Royal Navy)

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.

She was built by Vosper Thornycroft in Southampton 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.

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, has been decommissioned and sold to the Royal Bahrain Naval Force.

The River class are significantly larger than the Island-class vessels and have a large open deck aft allowing them to be fitted with equipment for a specific role, which can include fire-fighting, disaster relief and anti-pollution work. For this purpose, a 25-tonne (25-long-ton; 28-short-ton) capacity crane is fitted. In addition, the deck is strong enough for the transport of various tracked and wheeled light vehicles, or an LCVP.

The class are primarily used with the Fishery Protection Squadron and EEZ patrol.