Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Royal Navy patrol boats in tour of the north

Post Thumbnail

Five Royal Navy Fast Inshore Patrol Vessels are heading north for a tour of Scotland during the Easter holidays.

The vessels, which are all part of the First Patrol Boat Squadron, will transit the Caledonian Canal and spend the next few weeks visiting Scottish ports and communities, some of which rarely come into contact with a Royal Navy vessel.

Ports which will receive a visit include Fraserburgh, Buckie, Fort Augustus, Tobermory, Oban, Dunstaffnage, Arbroath, Aberdeen, Lossiemouth, Montrose and Stromness.  Four of the vessels will also stop-off at Inverness at the same time on April 11.

Each Patrol Boat is affiliated to a University Royal Navy Unit, or URNU, and provides students with experience and knowledge of the Royal Navy.  Units regularly go to sea and train in navigation skills and seamanship.  The URNU’s are not linked to recruiting and so members are under no obligation to join the Royal Navy.

Captain Chris Smith, Naval Regional Commander, Scotland and Northern Ireland, said: “The beauty of the Inshore Patrol Vessels is that they can reach the parts that other ships can’t.

“The Easter deployment will not only provide students with valuable sea training, but will also give some members of the community the opportunity to meet and interact with their navy, learning how they help protect our coastline and maritime-based economy.”

The vessels taking part in the Easter deployment include HMS Explorer, based in Kingston-upon-Hull and supporting Yorkshire Universities and HMS Biter, which supports Manchester and Salford University.

HMS Charger is the vessel for Liverpool University; HMS Pursuer is the training craft for Glasgow and Strathclyde University URNU, and HMS Example supports Northumbrian University based in Tyne and Wear.

During the tour the Patrol Boats will host Sea Cadet Units, local dignitaries, and also take the opportunity to train alongside the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA).

Each of the Archer class P2000 Fast Inshore Patrol Boats weigh 54 tonnes and can carry up to 18 crew members. There are a total of 14 P2000 Patrol Boats which together form the First Patrol Boat Squadron.