Falklands' patrol vessel HMS Forth, P222 has arrived back in the Islands to resume her duties as a guard ship following a refit and maintenance operation in Gibraltar.
The Falkland Islands are British, that is nonnegotiable and undeniable emphasized UK Defense Secretary Grant Shapps, adding that 99,8% of Islanders voted in 2013 to remain British and we will always defend their right to self-determination and UK's sovereignty.
HMS Forth, the Falkland Islands patrol has conducted her first major maintenance period since she was commissioned five years ago and is now leaving Gibraltar and returning to her home in the Islands.
HMS Medway, a Batch 2 River-class offshore patrol vessel, has recently conducted a joint training exercise with Bristow Search and Rescue off the Falkland Islands. The collaboration involved the mastering of winching drills.
HMS Medway is carrying out patrol duties in the Falkland Islands, filling in while HMS Forth undergoes refit in Gibraltar, but her crew are leaving behind a lasting legacy, which will even be visible from space.
Rob Butler MP, Conservative MP for Aylesbury, and Tanmanjeet Singh Dhesi MP Labour for Slough are in the Falklands as part of the UK Armed Forces Parliamentary Scheme, a program ongoing for more than thirty years with the purpose of better-educating Members of the House of Commons, the House of Lords and others in military matters.
The British Forces South Atlantic Command this week welcomed the arrival of HMS Medway at Mare Harbor. HMS Medway is a Batch 2 River class offshore patrol vessel, currently commissioned and since 2019 assigned long-term as Royal Navy guard ship in the Caribbean.
Steel was cut this week for the first of three new Royal Navy offshore patrol vessels (OPVs) at a ceremony in Glasgow. The vessels, which will be used by the Royal Navy to undertake various tasks in support of UK interests both at home and abroad, will be built at BAE Systems’ shipyards under a £348 million contract that has protected more than 800 Scottish jobs.