Island-class patrol vessel

This article is about a Royal Navy patrol vessel class. For the United States Coast Guard patrol vessel class, see Island-class patrol boat.

BNS Sangu operating in the Bay of Bengal in 2011
Class overview
Builders	Hall, Russell & Company
Operators	Royal Navy (retired) Bangladesh Navy (active) Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency (retired) Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (active)
Succeeded by	Template:Sclass2-
In commission	1976–2004
Completed	7
General characteristics
Type	Offshore patrol vessel
Displacement	1,000 tons (standard) 1,280 tons (full load)
Length	195 ft (59 m) (overall)
Beam	36 ft (11 m)
Draft	14 ft (4.3 m)
Propulsion	1 shaft, 2 Ruston-Paxman diesel, 4,380 hp (3,270 kW) variable-pitch propeller
Speed	16 knots (30 km/h)
Range	11,000 nautical miles (20,000 km) at 11 knots (20 km/h)
Complement	35
Sensors and processing systems	Type 1006 radar Simrad RU sidescan sonar
Armament	1 × Bofors 40 mm gun Mark III, replaced by 1 × 30mm gun in some ships

The Island-class patrol vessel was first designed and built for the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency. As a result of the Royal Navy's experiences in the Cod Wars with Iceland, and the success of FPV Jura (loaned to the Navy as HMS Jura) in fishery protection patrols, the Navy built a further seven. These ships were designed and built by Hall Russell of Aberdeen, Scotland.

Fishery protection cruisers

FPV Jura and FPV Westra were built by Hall, Russell & Company of Aberdeen in 1973 and 1975 respectively. Jura was loaned to the Royal Navy between 1975 and 1977 for evaluation.

Royal Navy offshore fishery protection ships

The success of Jura encouraged the Royal Navy to build a further seven ships to the same design; these ships formed the bulk of the Fishery Protection Squadron, whose mission was to patrol the Atlantic fishing grounds, and ensure the security of the British oil and gas fields in the North Sea. However, since the mid-1990s, the class has been gradually decommissioned; Jersey was sold to the Bangladesh Navy in 1994, to be followed by Shetland, Alderney, Anglesey, Guernsey and Lindisfarne, with Orkney going to Trinidad and Tobago. The Island class was replaced in the Fishery Protection Squadron by the three ships of the Template:Sclass2-.

Ships in class

Name	Pennant number	Builder	Laid down	Launched	Commissioned	Status
FPV Jura	P296 (HMS Jura)	Hall, Russell & Company		1973		Sold to Marr Vessel Management Ltd, and renamed N'Madi
FPV Westra		Hall, Russell & Company		1974	1975	Sold to Sea Shepherd Conservation Society and renamed MY Steve Irwin
HMS Anglesey	P277	Hall, Russell & Company				Sold to the Bangladesh Navy
HMS Alderney	P278	Hall, Russell & Company				Sold to the Bangladesh Navy
HMS Jersey	P295	Hall, Russell & Company				Sold to the Bangladesh Navy
HMS Guernsey	P297	Hall, Russell & Company				Sold to the Bangladesh Navy
HMS Shetland	P298	Hall, Russell & Company				Sold to the Bangladesh Navy
HMS Orkney	P299	Hall, Russell & Company				Sold to Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard
HMS Lindisfarne	P300	Hall, Russell & Company				Sold to the Bangladesh Navy

Disposal

Presently, five Island-class patrol vessels are in active service with the Bangladesh Navy. They are Karatoa (ex-Alderney), Kapatakhaya (ex-Shetland), Turag (ex-Lindisfarne), Gomati (ex-Anglesey) and Sangu (ex-Guernsey). Another ex-Royal Navy Island-class vessel, Jersey, is used as the training ship, Ruhul Amin. The final ship of the class, ex-Royal Navy vessel Orkney is in service with the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard and named TTS Nelson.

The Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency Westra was sold to the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society in 2006 and is currently named MY Steve Irwin. Jura was sold in 1988 and renamed Criscilla, and then N'Madi. She was broken up in Portugal in November 2001.

References

Notations

• Conway's All The World's Fighting Ships 1947–1995