HMS Venturer is the first of the next generation of Type 31 Inspiration Class Frigates, currently under construction in Rosyth.
HMS Venturer is a General-Purpose Frigate, capable of deploying globally to undertake a wide variety of roles; from Maritime Security Operations, including counter-piracy missions, to Defence Engagement, and Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief.
HMS Venturer introduces new technology and systems into service with the Royal Navy. This includes a ‘state of the art’ surveillance radar, high-tech electro-optic equipment and automated 57mm and 50mm gun systems that utilise programmable ammunition. The Sea Ceptor missile system provides a local area air-defence capability. Her four engines can propel her in excess of 26 knots, and the platform incorporates a raft of automation designed to enhance capability and maximise the crew’s capacity.
HMS Venturer’s flight deck is the largest of any Royal Navy Frigate or Destroyer and can operate a range of aircraft types including Merlin, Wildcat and Chinook. Provision is also made to operate uncrewed systems. The Ship has three boat bays, each of which can launch a Pacific 24 seaboat. A large Mission Bay provides the space and services to support the embarkation of task-specific equipment.
The Type 31 Class is inherently adaptable, providing capacity to accommodate future capabilities including the planned Mk41 Vertical Launch System, which is capable of launching a variety of missile types.
Once she enters service with the Royal Navy, Venturer will be crewed by around 115 sailors with capacity to accommodate more as her tasking requires. Currently a small crew is working alongside the Ship in build, determining how to operate the platform in the most effective way and establishing the conditions for transition to the Royal Navy.
HMS Venturer is sponsored by Her Royal Highness, the Princess Royal.
A 14-gun cutter originally named Rose was purchased for the Royal Navy and re-named HMS Ranger. She was captured by the French and then re-taken and recommissioned as HMS Venturer. She served in the Channel and later in Gibraltar.
The second ship of the name bore it only briefly. Originally a French privateer, La Nouvelle Enterprise, she was captured by HMS Nimrod in December 1807, and named Venturer, but registered at the end of 1808 as Theodosia.
By the time this V-Class Submarine was completed, Winston Churchill had insisted that new submarines should be given names and not numbers, and so she was commissioned as HMS Venturer. She entered service with the 9th Submarine Flotilla in northern waters.
Commanded by Lt ‘Jimmy’ Launders, HMS Venturer sank German shipping and a U-Boat whilst patrolling off the Norwegian coast. On 9 February 1945, Venturer made history when she sank U-boat U-864, becoming the first and only submarine to sink another whilst both submerged. The current Venturer’s name is inspired by this action, and the technology and innovation exploited to achieve it.
From 1946 to 1975, Venturer was assigned to the Bristol Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Division. This role was taken up by a succession of three minesweepers over the 29-year period.
The seventh Venturer was a trawler taken up from trade and converted for use a minesweeper for Severn RNR.
The lead ship of the Type 31 Class Frigate began construction in Rosyth Dockyard.
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