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        Mersey

        HMS Mersey

        HMS Mersey is the youngest of the original batch of River- class patrol vessels built for the Fishery Protection Squadron – the oldest unit in the Royal Navy. She patrols the waters of the UK and up to 200 miles in the Atlantic ensuring that fishing boats and trawlers stick to internationally-agreed quotas.

        HMS Mersey

        Mersey was the last ship to be built at Vosper Thornycroft yard in Woolston, Southampton.

        Mersey like her sister ships is not owned by the RN, she is in fact leased by BAE who retain the responsibility for any major maintenance and upkeep.

        The ship is a regular visitor to UK ports and often hosts organised groups to show what the Royal Navy is about. She operates a crew rotation system which means that a member of the ship’s company would normally spend four weeks onboard and two weeks ashore catching up on leave or on courses, allowing the ship herself to be on almost constant patrol.

        COMMANDING OFFICER

        Sarah Oakley

        Sarah Oakley
        RANK:
        Lieutenant Commander
        JOINED:
        1995
        SPECIALISATION:
        Warfare
        PREVIOUS UNITS:
        HMS Kent, Chatham,
        Military experience

        Lieutenant Commander Sarah Oakley joined the Royal Navy in 1995 after reading a degree in Modern History at Trinity College, Oxford. On completion of her initial training at Britannia Royal Naval College she continued her training at sea in HMS Beaver, Sheffield and Orwell.

        For her first complement appointment, Sarah joined HMS Alderney as the Gunnery Officer and British Seas Fisheries Officer. Further appointments followed as Officer of the Watch 1 and Signal Communications Officer in HMS Kent, bringing the ‘Millennium Frigate’ from build through a successful trials programme and Operational Sea Training ready for her first deployment to the Gulf.

        Then as Navigating Officer in HMS Norfolk, she deployed to the Mediterranean as part of the Standing Naval Force Atlantic, conducting Maritime Interdiction Operations under Op Active Endeavour.

        In 2003 she returned to Britannia Royal Naval College as Head of Navigation for two years, responsible for the delivery of basic navigation training to all New Entry officers.

        Qualifying as a Principal Warfare Officer in 2006, she returned to sea as the Above Water Warfare specialist and later as the Operations Officer in HMS Chatham including a six month Op Telic deployment, with Combined Task Force 158 staff embarked. This was a challenging deployment, with the ship operating in the confined waters of the Northern Gulf, working closely with the US, Australian and Iraqi Navies.

        In 2009 an appointment as the PWO in the Maritime Commissioning, Trials and Assessment organisation (MCTA) in Portsmouth allowed Sarah to use her knowledge of operations in the Middle East to ensure ships deploying East of Suez were operating materially at their maximum operational capability, putting the ships through a variety of trials on the NATO Foracs Range at Crete.

        She returned to the Gulf in 2010 as the Operations Officer for the Combined Task Group Iraqi Maritime, living on an Iraqi Oil Platform for 7 and a half months.

        She was awarded a Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service in the Queen’s Operational Honours List for her contribution to the mission to transfer responsibility for the security of the Oil Platforms from Coalition to Iraqi control.

        Joining the Maritime Battle Staff in 2011 it wasn’t long before she found herself heading out to the Gulf again, this time based in Bahrain and serving on the staff of the Combined Task Force 150, responsible for Counter Terrorism.

        She assumed Command of HMS Mersey at the end of May 2012.


        OPERATIONS

        Operation Fishery Protection

        CURRENT STATUS: active
        image
        MISSION SUMMARY

        River-class ships inspect fishing vessels operating up to 200 miles off the UK’s coastline. Their task is to enforce UK and EU regulations designed to preserve fish stocks for future generations. The Royal Navy operates on behalf of the Marine Management Organisation.

        ABOUT THE UNIT

        KEY STATISTICS


        Pennant

        P283

        Displacement

        1,700tonnes

        Complement

        30personnel

        Length

        79.8Metres

        Beam

        13.6metres

        Draught

        3.8metres

        Top Speed

        20knots

        Range (nautical)

        7,800miles

        Launch Date

        2003

        Commissioned date

        28/11/03

        TAKE A LOOK

        Image Gallery

        UNITS IN TIME


        HMS Mersey HISTORY

        TRACK THE HISTORY OF SHIPS NAMED HMS Mersey
        • The First Mersey

          The first HMS Mersey was a Conway-class 26-gun Sixth Rate, launched in 1814.

        • The Second and Third Mersey

          The second HMS Mersey and her sister ship HMS Orlando were the longest wooden ships ever built for the Royal Navy; at 336 feet overall, they were nearly twice the length of Lord Nelson's flagship HMS Victory. At 5643 tons displacement she was a huge ship for her day, heavily armed, strongly manned and relatively fast at 12 knots. The third HMS Mersey was the name ship of the Mersey class of protected cruisers, the first cruisers to be built with no sailing rig, as solely steam powered ships. She was launched at Chatham dockyard in March 1885, had very little active employment and was sold for breaking in 1905.

        • Ship History

          In 1914 the Royal Navy bought three Amazon river monitors built by Vickers for Brazil. These ships – renamed Mersey, Humber and Severn – were the first of a new type of specialist shore-bombardment ships. She was 261 ft. long, but to allow for her very shallow draft - 4 ft. 9 in. - was very beamy at 49 ft. They were very unmanoevrable and dangerously unseaworthy in open waters in anything more than a Force 5 wind. She was sold to breakers in 1921.

        • Battle Honours

          Belgian Coast 1914-1915 Königsberg 1915

        LATEST NEWS

         

        TOP STORIES

        HMS Mersey hosts HMS Biter University
        HMS Mersey hosts HMS Biter University Royal Naval Unit students
        20 May 2013

        The Royal Navy River Class Offshore Patrol Vessel (RCOPV) HMS...

        Royal Navy and Royal Marines demonstrate skills at Jersey boat show
        Royal Navy and Royal Marines demonstrate skills at Jersey boat show
        07 May 2013

        Royal Navy fishery protection vessel HMS Mersey took centre stage...

        HMS Mersey and 814 Merlin Helicopter
        HMS Mersey practises rare flying operations training
        04 March 2013

        Fishery Protection vessel HMS Mersey has taken part in a...

        Fishery Protection ships demonstrate High speed Skills
        Fish ships Severn and Mersey demonstrate high speed skills
        27 February 2013

        Two of the Royal Navy’s fishery protection vessels practised fast,...

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