HMS Tamar: Royal Navy's 'Greenest Ship' Joins Fleet

The Royal Navy's newest and 'greenest' ship has joined the fleet.

HMS Tamar, a Batch-2 River-class offshore patrol vessel (OPV), raised the White Ensign from her deck for the first time, on the river in south-west England that shares her name.

Over the past few weeks, the ship has been carrying out acceptance trials around Plymouth Sound and the south-west sea training areas.

Her crew has done boat drills and emergency exercises, along with a series of firsts, including initial gunnery exercises and the inaugural helicopter landing on deck, carried out by a Wildcat from Royal Naval Air Station Yeovilton.

Two rampant red lions on each side of the ship's superstructure are symbolic of her connection to the region, both Devon and Cornwall.

The Navy said HMS Tamar is also the service's greenest ship, due to catalytic converters which reduce nitrogen-based emissions from her engine exhausts by up to 95%.

With a range of 6,000 miles, the 2,000-tonne vessel can accommodate up to 50 Royal Marines Commandos, the Navy added.

Lieutenant Commander Michael Hutchinson, Commanding Officer of HMS Tamar said: "It's an incredibly proud moment for the ship.

"We've generated really quickly, we’ve done all our training and now we are at the point where we can join the fleet, and start to get ready for our first deployment later this year."

Affiliated to Truro in Cornwall, the ship received best wishes from the city's mayor, Councillor Bert Biscoe.

"The River Tamar is the oldest cultural boundary in Europe, and it is fitting that the vessel carries the name of the river which bonds, as a son to his mother, the Duchy of Kernow to the Crown," he said.

"Long may she patrol and protect us, one and all."