Royal Navy patrol vessel HMS Tyne has successfully completed her Operational Sea Training (OST) and is ready for continued operations in and around UK waters.
The Portsmouth-based ship spent an intense few weeks under the direction of Flag Officer Sea Training North (FOST(N)), leaving her usual operating areas of the 200nm Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) around England, Wales and Northern Ireland to head for the waters of the Firth of Clyde.
While under training she was put through her paces with a high tempo series of exercises ranging from dealing with fires and floods on-board, to providing life-saving assistance to vessels in distress and defending herself from attacks by Fast Inshore Attack Craft (FIACs), along with intelligence gathering exercises, navigation and seamanship tasks.
One of the main parts of the training was the Salvage Exercise (SALVEX), involving the entire ship’s company.
Tyne received a distress message from a sinking vessel and responded to provide lifesaving assistance.
When they got to the vessel Tyne sent across her reconnaissance team using her Pacific 22 sea boats, which includes Damage Control and First Aid experts.
Once on-board the team were faced with flooded compartments, fires and casualties whilst Tyne dealt with fires, floods and man over boards of her own to prove she could keep herself safe with reduced manpower, all while keeping supplies and equipment moving to the stricken vessel.
The casualty was then moved to Tyne before being evacuated by helicopter to hospital.
This is a scenariopatrl vessels have been faced with in the past - HMS Clyde rescued people from a burning cruise ship in 2015 and Tyne helped a vessel in distress in the English Channel in 2014.
Executive Officer Lieutenant Craig Clark spent time in Command during OST and led the Reconnaissance Team .
“HMS Tyne has shown she is ready to keep doing what she and her sister ships do throughout the year, ensuring the UK’s Maritime Security and remaining ready to respond.
“It has been great to see the team working together to get the most out of training; this is the sort of ethos the Royal Navy is built on,” he said.
For new members of the ship’s company it is a great opportunity for them to experience everything a RCOPV can do and progress with their own development. Able Seaman Layla Wyatt joined Tyne as her first ship straight from training courses at HMS Raleigh only a few weeks before OST.
“It has been a really busy few weeks, we cover a lot of training and I got to do loads of things like jumping out of the sea boats onto mooring buoys, fighting fires, floods and firing the GPMGs (General Purpose Machine Guns).
“I was pretty tired by the end but got a lot out of it, and it was great to do this straight from basic training,” she said.
The River Class spend up to 300 days per year at sea using a 3 watch manning system to rotate a section of the crew every few weeks.
This means the versatile ships can be called upon at a moment’s notice to help with operations around the UK, or for the case of HMS Clyde, the Falkland Islands.
Most of Tyne’s crew will spend at least 6 months in the Falklands as part of their time in the Fishery Protection Squadron. To support this high level of readiness the ships go through training periods throughout the year to keep them up to speed with the latest procedures.
HMS Tyne is one of the Royal Navy’s four patrol vessels in the Fishery Protection Squadron which conducts Marine Enforcement Operations to protect the UK Fishing Industry, along with a host of other duties to ensure the UK’s Maritime Security.
Three of the highly capable OPVs are based in the UK while the fourth, HMS Clyde, is deployed to the Falkland Islands.
