Photo: Royal Navy
HMS Spey, a River class offshore patrol vessel, has departed to Australia, taking on supplies and fuel for the next
leg of her Pacific patrol.
The Royal Navy say here that the vessel used her time in Australia to work with the Royal Australian Navy
and share training and experiences of being an overseas patrol vessel deployed from the UK for up to five
years.
“Alongside her sister ship HMS Tamar, Spey is the Royal Navy’s permanent presence in the Indo-Pacific
region and lessons learned from her maiden deployment were shared with the crews of HMAS Arafura and
HMAS Wollongong. The Australian patrol ships carry out tasks similar to that of Spey and Arafura’s
commanding officer and several Royal Australian Navy officers spent time on the British ship.”
Lieutenant Gareth Senior, Marine Engineer Officer on HMS Spey, was quoted as saying: “It was good to
have our Royal Australian Counterparts on board and give them the opportunity to explore our ship and
department. It gave them an opportunity to see what their future offshore patrol vessels will be like and
also share experiences of operating in the South Pacific region.” Source: UK Defence Journal