HMS Orkney (P299)

History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Orkney
NamesakeOrkney Islands
BuilderHall, Russell & Company, Aberdeen
Yard number972[1]
Launched29 June 1976
Sponsored byLady Troup, wife of Flag Officer Scotland and Northern Ireland
CommissionedFebruary 1977
IdentificationPennant number: P299
FateSold to Trinidad and Tobago October 2000
Trinidad and Tobago
NameTTS Nelson
IdentificationPennant number: CG20
FateSold for scrap 2016
General characteristics
Class and typeIsland-class patrol vessel
Displacement1,250 long tons (1,270 t) standard
Length195 ft (59 m) o/a
Beam36 ft (11 m)
Draft14 ft (4.3 m)
Propulsion1 shaft, 2 diesel, 4,380 hp (3,266 kW)
Speed16 knots (30 km/h)
Range11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) at 11 knots (20 km/h)
Complement35
Armament1 × Bofors 40 mm gun Mark III

HMS Orkney was an Island-class patrol vessel of the Royal Navy. In 2000 she became TTS Nelson of the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard. In 2016, the vessel was sold for scrap.

Construction and British service

Orkney was built by Hall, Russell & Company in Aberdeen, launched on 29 June 1976 and commissioned in February of the following year. She was modelled on the ocean-going fishery protection vessels Jura and Westra. As part of the Fishery Protection Squadron, along with her sister ships, she patrolled the waters around the UK (sometimes also Gibraltar) providing protection for Britain's fishing grounds, as well as providing oil and gas platform protection. In 1978, Orkney coordinated the clean-up operation after the tanker Christos Bitas ran aground in the Irish Sea.[2] She helped co-ordinate the search for survivors from the trawler Ocean Monarch off Fair Isle, in 1980 and recovered many of the bodies when the freighter Radiant Med sank off Guernsey in 1984.[2]

In 1993 she became involved in a fishing dispute with France around the Channel Islands. Paid off in April 1999, she was laid up at Portsmouth Dockyard.[3] Following decommissioning, her bell, name board and honours board were presented to Orkney Islands Council.[4]

Trinidad and Tobago service

In 2000 she was sold to the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force and renamed TTS Nelson. During her residency at the Coast Guard's headquarters in Chaguaramas, she saw little naval service as she experienced mechanical and structural problems due to her age at the time.[citation needed] After sixteen years under ownership by the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force she was sold for scrap in 2016 upon the Coast Guard's reception of her replacement, TTS Nelson II.

References

  1. ^ "Orkney". Aberdeen Built Ships. Retrieved 22 February 2010.
  2. ^ a b "Farewell to the Island Class". Navy News. Retrieved 21 February 2010.
  3. ^ Jeremy Olver. "Island Class Offshore Patrol Vessels". Royal Navy Postwar. Archived from the original on 25 March 2010. Retrieved 21 February 2010.
  4. ^ Brian Flett (4 May 2000). "Rear Admiral hands over HMS Orkney artefacts". The Orcadian.

Bibliography

  • Richardson, Ian (February 2022). "Island Class Offshore Patrol Vessels (OPV)". Marine News Supplement: Warships. 76 (2): S118–S124. ISSN 0966-6958.