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A Royal Navy patrol vessel was in local waters yesterday with trainee navigators on board.
HMS Severn is one of three offshore patrol vessels working the seas around the UK on most days throughout the year. She is nicknamed 'Lucky Severn'.
She weighs 1,700 tonnes, is 80 metres in length and has a top speed in excess of 20 knots.
The @royalnavy's @hmssevern - a River-class offshore patrol vessel is in local waters carrying out frigate navigation training course in its wartime camouflage. Our waters offer considerable challenges for trainee Navy navigators. https://t.co/HAhv9ziOnV pic.twitter.com/b8O6l32aPX
— Guernsey Coastguard (@GsyCoastguard) December 1, 2021
Pictured: Guernsey Coastguard announced the presence of Lady Severn in local waters.
Bailiwick waters provide an ideal training environment for Royal Navy navigators.
The Guernsey Coastguard said: “You’ve got a huge tidal range and you’ve got changeable weather conditions. It’s foggy one minute and then you have a clear visual passage. It's what you'd call a dynamic situation."
Watch: This video from Forces News tells the story of HMS Severn.
HMS Severn was built in Southampton and commissioned into service in 2003, primarily to serve as a fisheries protection unit in UK waters.
In 2015, acting on intelligence, HMS Severn intercepted a freighter off the south coast of England which was found to be carrying 2.4 tonnes of cocaine with a potential street value in excess of £350million.
The vessel was decommissioned in 2017, but the UK Government recommissioned her as part of its preparations for Brexit. She returned to service in 2020 and was officially recommissioned into the Royal Navy a little over three months ago. She was the first Royal Navy vessel in nearly 40 years to be recommissioned.
HMS Severn is painted in what is known as a Western Approaches camouflage scheme. The historic scheme is a tribute to sailors who fought in the Battle of the Atlantic in World War Two.
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