TSAMTO, January 14. The command of the British Navy on January 8 announced the acceptance of a new coastal patrol ship OPV (Offshore Patrol Vessels) P234 "Spey" of the River-2 class, which took place at the naval base in Portsmouth.
Spay is the fifth and last of the five River-2-class patrol ships ordered. Steel cutting for its construction began in April 2017, and the baptism ceremony took place in October 2019. The ship arrived in Portsmouth in October 2020.
As reported by tsamto, in 2014, the Ministry of Defense of the United Kingdom signed a contract with BAE Systems worth 348 million pounds for the supply of three ships of the River class Batch. 2, "Fort" (Forth), "Midway" (Medway) and " Trent "(Trent). The agreement included an option to build two more ships, Tamar and Spey, which was implemented on December 8, 2016. The total cost of the River 2 program is about 648 million pounds.
The lead ship of the series, P222 "Fort", joined the British Navy in April 2018. The second ship, P223 Midway, was commissioned into the Royal Navy in September 2019, the third, P224 Trent, in August 2020, and the fourth P233 Tamar in December 2020. It is planned that the fifth ship will join the fleet by the end of 2021.
The new ships will increase the ability of the British Navy to patrol and protect maritime borders, fight terrorism, counter piracy, smuggling, drug trafficking in its territorial waters and beyond.
The length of the ship is 90.5 m, width – 13.6 m, displacement – about 2100 tons. It is equipped with two MAN 16V diesel engines, can reach a maximum speed of 24 knots. The range of navigation is 5,500 nautical miles, the crew is 49 people, the autonomy is 35 days. Armament consists of one 30-mm Bushmaster artillery installation of MSI-Defense Systems, two 6-barrel 7.62-mm Mk44 machine guns, four 7.62-mm machine guns. The flight deck allows you to receive Merlin helicopters. The ship provides for the possibility of placing a marine unit of up to 50 people.
