HMS Exploit (P167)

File:HMS Exploit.jpg HMS Exploit
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Exploit
Operator	Royal Navy
Builder	Vosper Thornycroft
Commissioned	1988
Status	in active service
General characteristics
Class and type	Archer class patrol vessel
Displacement	54 tonnes
Length	20.8 m
Beam	5.8 m
Draught	1.8 m
Propulsion	2 shafts, Rolls Royce M800T diesels, 1,590 bhp
Speed	14 kn (26 km/h) 45 kn (83 km/h) (Hull design, but limited due to engine fitted)
Range	550 nmi (1,020 km)
Complement	18 (training) 12 (operational)
Sensors and processing systems	Decca 1216 navigation radar
Armament	1 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon on fo'c'sle ("for but not with") 3 × General purpose machine guns

HMS Exploit is an Archer-class (or P2000) patrol and training vessel of the British Royal Navy, built in Woolston by Vosper Thornycroft and commissioned in 1988. She was originally ordered for the now defunct Royal Naval Auxiliary Service (RNXS) and had a distinctive black hull like other RNXS vessels. She is attached to Birmingham University Royal Naval Unit (URNU), which exists to provide training to undergraduate students in a wide range of naval skills and to provide opportunities for personal development.

The ship's company consists of a permanent staff of the commanding officer, two senior rates and two junior rates, but can take up to twelve students with training officers usually embarked when conducting navigational training. Whilst at sea, students are able to put into practice navigation and seamanship skills they have learnt in the classroom during weekly training nights. These include chart planning, acting as Officer of the Watch, using the ship's radar and carrying out seamanship evolutions from anchoring to securing alongside. Instruction is given in engineering, firefighting, damage control and ship handling. 'Sea weekend' training is usually limited to visiting UK coastal ports but recent Easter and summer deployments have included visits to France, Holland, Belgium, and the Channel Islands. The ship is based in Penarth Marina, Cardiff.

Affiliations

• HMS Daring
• HMS Ambush
• TS Blackcap - Birkenhead Sea Cadets
• TS Minerva - Rhondda Sea Cadets
• TS Sutton Coldfield - Sutton Coldfield Sea Cadets
• Hereford Cathedral School CCF
• The University of Birmingham
• 845 Naval Air Squadron
• The town of Berkeley
• Brownhills Girl Guides, Walsall

External links

• Royal Navy HMS Exploit (royalnavy.mod.uk)
• Video - HMS Exploit - Docking with style (youtube.com)