HMS Mersey (P283)

HMS Mersey, 2009
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Mersey
Operator	Royal Navy
Ordered	April 2001
Builder	Vosper Thornycroft
Launched	14 June 2003
Sponsored by	Mrs Jennie Reeve
Commissioned	28 November 2003
Homeport	HMNB Portsmouth
Identification	IMO number: 9261346 MMSI number: 234637000 Callsign: GBSY Pennant number: P283
Status	In active service
Badge
General characteristics
Class and type	River-class patrol vessel
Displacement	1,700 tonnes (1,700 long tons)[1]
Length	79.5 m (260 ft 10 in)
Beam	13.5 m (44 ft 3 in)
Draught	3.8 m (12 ft 6 in)
Installed power	4,125 kW (5,532 hp) at 1,000 rpm
Propulsion	2 × Ruston 12RK 270 diesel engines
Speed	20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Range	5,500 nmi (10,200 km; 6,300 mi)
Endurance	21 days
Boats & landing craft carried	Two rigid inflatable boats
Troops	20
Complement	30
Armament	1 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon 2 × General purpose machine guns
Notes	Fitted with 25-tonne crane[2]

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. Various tenders were renamed Mersey^[3] during their service with Mersey Division Royal Naval Reserve (HMS Eaglet) between the early 1950s and late 1970s.

HMS Mersey was built by Vosper Thornycroft in Southampton, England 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.

Mersey was the last Royal Navy ship to be launched from Vosper Thornycroft at its Woolston shipyard; Jennie Reeve, wife of Rear-Admiral Jonathon Reeve, Chief of Fleet Support, was the ship's sponsor.^[4]

For the first thirteen years of operation, Mersey carried out fishery protection duties around the United Kingdom.

In May 2012, Mersey became the first command of Sarah Oakley.^[5]

In October 2013, Mersey was dry docked in Falmouth.^{[citation needed]}

In January 2016, Mersey became the second River-class OPV to be deployed to the Caribbean Sea following on from her sister Severn in 2015. In May 2016, Mersey was dry docked in Martinique as part of her mid-deployment maintenance period. By July, Mersey had been relieved by RFA Wave Knight and was deployed on migrant patrols in the Aegean via a port call in Gibraltar. Mersey returned to Portsmouth on 10 February 2017 after 13 months away to resume her fishery protection duties.^[6]

On 3 January 2019, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson confirmed that HMS Mersey has been deployed to assist UK and French authorities with illegal migrant crossings in the English Channel.^[7]

On 24 April 2017, in a written answer to a question raised by Sir Nicholas Soames, Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Defence Harriett Baldwin stated that Mersey would be decommissioned in 2019.^[8]

In March 2018, Baldwin's successor Guto Bebb revealed that £12.7M had been allocated from the EU Exit Preparedness Fund to preserve the three Batch 1 ships, should they be needed to control and enforce UK waters and fisheries following the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union.^[9]

On 22 November 2018, Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson announced that three Batch 1 River-class ships would be retained in service and forward operated from their affiliated ports.^[10] However, the idea of forward basing the Batch 1s was reportedly later abandoned. The ships are now to be retained in service until around 2028.^[11] As of late 2023, Mersey was scheduled to begin a major refit.^[12]

• HMS Eaglet^{[citation needed]}
• TS Ardent^{[citation needed]}

• Metropolitan Borough of Sefton - 13 April 2023.^[13]

• Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to IMO 9261346.

• "HMS Mersey". Royal Navy.