Two 'persistent' Royal Navy ships spend five years on op after leaving Portsmouth 1,826 days ago
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HMS Spey and Tamar are affiliated with Portsmouth but have been deployed for much of their career on the other side of the world
Two Royal Navy warships have now spent five years on deployment in the Indo-Pacific since leaving Portsmouth.
River-class patrol vessels HMS Spey and Tamar left Portsmouth 1,826 days ago after being assigned to their landmark mission. Each crewed by a ship’s company of roughly 50 sailors, they are the first military vessels operating around-the-clock in the Indo-Pacific since the handover of Hong Kong in 1997.
HMS Tamar is currently in Malaysia having joined a major US Navy humanitarian deployment, Pacific Partnership, having previously spent a week in Cambodia for a diplomatic mission. She was the first British vessel to visit their in more than half a century.
Both ships are assigned to Operation Highwell, which can involve participating in naval exercises, disaster relief missions, humanitarian aid efforts, diplomatic engagements, and security patrols to battle illegal fishing, smuggling, and drug-trafficking to name a few.
They have helped to enforce UN sanctions imposed on North Korea by patrolling and conducting freedom of navigation missions in disputed waters. These also took place in the South China Sea to the chagrin of Beijing.
HMS Spey has taken part in 14 international military exercises since leaving Portsmouth. She first delivered aid to Tonga in early 2022 after a huge underwater volcanic eruption and tsunami. The ship has spent 636 days at sea - 15,259 hours - and has travelled 161,133 nautical miles.
HMS Tamar has spent 15,000 hours at sea and has travelled 159,000 nautical miles. Both ships have sailed the equivalent of travelling 15 times around the world in the past five years. Pacific nations visited include Tahiti, Vanuatu, Timor Leste, New Caledonia, and a string of island chains such as Pitcairn, Solomon and Andaman. Crew changes take place every six to seven weeks, with crew flying from the UK and trading places with shipmates.
HMS Tamar’s Commanding Officer, Captain Tom Lindsey, said: “Even though my ship has been on station in the Indo-Asia-Pacific for five years, we’re still forging new ground, such as our recent visit to Cambodia which was the first time a British warship entered their newly constructed naval base.”
Lieutenant Jack Patterson, HMS Spey navigating officer, misses his home comforts like Irn Bru, but has completed experiences of a lifetime. He added: “The lasting memory of my time on Spey is beginning a day when a new, exciting or obscure location not yet visited appears over the horizon.”
Commanding Officer Commander Dan Briscoe said everyone involved in the mission should feel proud at what the two ships have achieved. He said: “We’ve maintained a persistent presence over 8,000 nautical miles from the UK, with long logistical supply chains, delivering on operations, over 300 days at sea every year. And we have flown the Royal Navy and UK flag in a hugely important geopolitical region with very little other consistent UK footprint.”
Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Steve Moorhouse said sustaining the two ships so far from the UK was “a phenomenal achievement and a powerful demonstration of the Royal Navy’s ability to sustain a persistent presence at strategic distance”.
He added: “HMS Spey and HMS Tamar have delivered effect far beyond their size – strengthening partnerships, upholding the international rules-based order while contributing to maritime security, UN operations, multinational exercises, sanctions enforcement, fisheries protection and much, much more. Their achievement is a testament to their professionalism, resilience and adaptability – and to the enduring value of a Royal Navy that is forward, persistent and ready to act.”