Royal Navy: HMS Medway to return to Portsmouth following post-refit trials in Gibraltar - when

HMS Medway will be sailing towards the Fountain Lake Jetty tomorrow afternoon. According to the King’s Harbour Master (KHM) shipping movements, the River-class offshore patrol vessel will be sailing past The Round Tower in Old Portsmouth at 4.30pm.

The warship has been going through a major refit, where the vessel will be modernised to extend her life. As previously reported in The News, sailors aboard HMS Medway ran into complications during trials in July 28.

Naval analysis website Navy Lookout reported that she was towed back to the shores of Gibraltar due to a fault. In response, a Royal Navy spokesperson said: “The Royal Navy continues to fulfil all its commitments. The fleet’s programme remains flexible, undergoing periods of maintenance is routine and vital for a ship’s continued effectiveness.”

For most of 2023, HMS Medway was operating around The Falklands Islands - a stark contrast to her usual tasking in the Caribbean. She took place of her sister ship HMS Forth, which was undergoing maintenance. Both ships then swapped places again, with HMS Medway undergoing engineering work after patrolling the South Atlantic for nine months and racking up 16,500 nautical miles - the equivalent of sailing three quarters of the way around the globe.