River Class (OPV) (RN)

[Poiuytrewq]

Cue comments of 'we need one of those, but with a 4.5" gun and a flight deck for Wildcat, and CAMM etc etc'

Ukraine might put a few of them to good use.

[Repulse]

57mm plus Wildcat perhaps, but the rest would be very very low down the priority list.

[new guy]

keep it simple.

[Tempest414]

Cue comments of 'we need one of those, but with a 4.5" gun and a flight deck for Wildcat, and CAMM etc etc'

Why would we need one of those at all. The RB2's are great ships and if they got the said upgrades would be a step better even with just the Camcopter they would be better

[donald_of_tokyo]

HMS Spey in Timor Leste

[wargame_insomniac]

From Spey's own tweet:
"We are thrilled to be the first Royal Navy ship to visit Timor Leste in an official capacity since the country gained its own sovereignty."

[donald_of_tokyo]

HMS Trent in Carbo Verde. Another addition to continuous "presence" operations covered by the 5 hard-working River OPVs.

[Ian Hall]

HMS Trent in Carbo Verde. Another addition to continuous "presence" operations covered by the 5 hard-working River OPVs.

Superb £VFM delivered by the RN's B2OPVs and their crews.

[Ian Hall]

[wargame_insomniac]

And yet more, further south than the above.

[wargame_insomniac]

And even more important work:

[Ian Hall]

[SKB]

Not a "major refit".

HMS Forth had been in the water for five years since her 13th April 2018 commissioning. As the Falkland Islands guard ship, she had scheduled maintenance and a repaint (including the dazzle camouflage) in Gibraltar, because the Falklands doesn't have the necessary dry-dock facilities.

HMS Medway has been standing in for HMS Forth in the South Atlantic since early 2023.

[Ian Hall]

But he forgot to add the 57mm & 40mm Bofors, not to mention CAMM and NSM

[donald_of_tokyo]

Very good job, HMS Spey!

[Ian Hall]

[Ian Hall]

[Ian Hall]

[Jackstar]

Another busy B2.

[new guy]

Day too much of Nicholas Drummond thinking his is a naval genius and that the rivers are main combatants.




He ough to stay in his land comfort zone of sponsorship.

[shark bait]

I agree, they should be lengthened, but there's no chance of that actually happening.

[Poiuytrewq]

Day too much of Nicholas Drummond thinking his is a naval genius and that the rivers are main combatants.

Use them more widely?

Apart from recently being in the South Atlantic, Mid Atlantic, Mediterranean, East African coast, Indian Ocean, Pacific, Caribbean and the North Sea where would Mr Drummond like to see the RB2’s being used more widely?

As for up-arming. Not a priority. Leave the investment for the T31’s.

[Repulse]

As for up-arming. Not a priority. Leave the investment for the T31’s.

Same argument can be made in why spend the money on the T31, spend it on more T26s.

No one should be under the illusion that these are anything more than patrol vessels for low threat environments. However, it is ridiculous how people are fearful to spend a few million to cheaply upgrade the B2s to bring them inline with USCG or other similar vessels, in case they show the T31 in its original form the folly it is.

Upgrade the T31, do whatever is needed to make them war fighting ships that can add value, but realise they are a stop gap only needed because successive governments delayed the T23 replacement.

To solve the issues the RN and other services have, a bud dose of realism is required - keep the B2s (with minor upgrades) where they are, they are doing a great job.

[Tempest414]

Day too much of Nicholas Drummond thinking his is a naval genius and that the rivers are main combatants.

Use them more widely?

Apart from recently being in the South Atlantic, Mid Atlantic, Mediterranean, East African coast, Indian Ocean, Pacific, Caribbean and the North Sea where would Mr Drummond like to see the RB2’s being used more widely?

As for up-arming. Not a priority. Leave the investment for the T31’s.

The thing about be more widely used is a bit silly when take into account not only the global use by the RN but the six other River class sub types being by other navies in the South Atlantic , Middle East and Asia

However we have already seen 2 rivers fitted with 76mm guns and a concept image of a 110 meter River so I don't know what else he thinks could be done to export this design

For me the best thing that could be done is for BAE , Bofors and Thales to come together and design and build a new 40mm turret which houses the 40mm gun and 6 x LMM this would be a big step up if the RN made this turret the main support weapon of the patrol & escort fleet with the Rivers getting 1 turret and Type 26 , 31 & 45 getting two

[Poiuytrewq]

No one should be under the illusion that these are anything more than patrol vessels for low threat environments. However, it is ridiculous how people are fearful to spend a few million to cheaply upgrade the B2s to bring them inline with USCG or other similar vessels, in case they show the T31 in its original form the folly it is.

Its nothing to do with that.

Current planning has three RB2’s coming back to the UKEEZ within 5 years with one remaining in the Falklands with the fifth in refit/reserve. If that changes then up-arming as a priority can be revisited.