RN Frigates: Type 23 Duke Class

[Pelican]

Take a trip to the Firth of Clyde and you’ll sometimes notice a Type 23 Frigate sailing in the area, but why?

Much of the time, there is a very specific reason with the vessel having a very specific function, Towed Array Patrol Ship.

The primary purpose of the Towed Array Patrol Ship (TAPS) is to watch for submarine activity, especially around HMNB Clyde which is the home of the UK’s nuclear deterrent.

Simply put, TAPS is a standing Royal Navy task to provide anti-submarine patrol duties in support of the Vanguard class nuclear submarines that are responsible for delivering Trident nuclear missiles.

A Type 23 frigate is maintained at high readiness for this task 365 days a year and can typically be found, as said above, around or near the west coast of Scotland.

Type 23 Frigates provide the towed array patrol ship for reactive anti-submarine patrol duties in support of the strategic nuclear deterrent.

To perform this task, a portion of the Type 23 Frigate fleet carry Sonar 2087. The system is described by its manufacturer as “a towed-array system that enables Type 23 frigates to hunt the latest submarines at considerable distances and locate them beyond the range at which they can launch an attack.”

The system was fitted to eight Type 23 frigates between 2004 and 2012; the five oldest Type 23 frigates, HMS Montrose, Monmouth, Iron Duke, Lancaster and Argyll are not scheduled to receive Sonar 2087 and are considered more ‘general purpose’ vessels and will be replaced by the Type 31e where as the eight towed array equipped ships will be replaced like for like by eight Type 26 Frigates.

Origin - https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/what-is ... td0pMDvtTw

And theres me thinking Taps was something to do with American military music.

[Little h]

Take a trip to the Firth of Clyde and you’ll sometimes notice a Type 23 Frigate sailing in the area, but why?

Much of the time, there is a very specific reason with the vessel having a very specific function, Towed Array Patrol Ship.

The primary purpose of the Towed Array Patrol Ship (TAPS) is to watch for submarine activity, especially around HMNB Clyde which is the home of the UK’s nuclear deterrent.

Simply put, TAPS is a standing Royal Navy task to provide anti-submarine patrol duties in support of the Vanguard class nuclear submarines that are responsible for delivering Trident nuclear missiles.

Old news that David; we had that on the forum back in December 2018 mate see:-

Re: Poseidon MRA Mk 1 (page 2)
Post by Little h » Wed Dec 19, 2018 8:19 pm

[Pelican]

Take a trip to the Firth of Clyde and you’ll sometimes notice a Type 23 Frigate sailing in the area, but why?

Much of the time, there is a very specific reason with the vessel having a very specific function, Towed Array Patrol Ship.

The primary purpose of the Towed Array Patrol Ship (TAPS) is to watch for submarine activity, especially around HMNB Clyde which is the home of the UK’s nuclear deterrent.

Simply put, TAPS is a standing Royal Navy task to provide anti-submarine patrol duties in support of the Vanguard class nuclear submarines that are responsible for delivering Trident nuclear missiles.

Old news that David; we had that on the forum back in December 2018 mate see:-

Re: Poseidon MRA Mk 1 (page 2)
Post by Little h » Wed Dec 19, 2018 8:19 pm

Fair enough Harry, I don't follow that many threads and UKDJ do re-cycle items when its quiet.

[Pelican]

HMS MONTROSE'S VIST TO BRUNEI

[Note: "HMS Montrose will then head for Bahrain where she will be based for the next three years. There, she will conduct patrols and swap her entire crew with her sister ship HMS Monmouth every six months."]

THE United Kingdom (UK) Royal Navy ship HMS Montrose concluded its two-day visit to the Sultanate with joint naval exercises alongside KDB Berkat of the Royal Brunei Navy (RBN) yesterday.

The Type 23 frigate arrived in Brunei last Saturday to foster the longstanding bilateral defence relationship between the UK and Brunei through exchange visits and drills.

During an interview with local media, Commanding Officer of HMS Montrose Commander Conor O’Neill said that the main purpose of the visit was to stock up on supplies as its crew will be deployed to the Middle East and the Asia-Pacific for many years.

“This particular visit is focussed around logistics supply and we are grateful for the support of the RBN, the Maritime and Port Authority of Brunei Darussalam, and the British Garrison for making it possible,” he said.

“As we set sail and leave Brunei waters, we will conduct a sea exercise with KDB Berkat of the RBN.”

HMS Montrose will then head for Bahrain where she will be based for the next three years. There, she will conduct patrols and swap her entire crew with her sister ship HMS Monmouth every six months.

HMS Montrose’s stop in Brunei is the fourth visit of a UK Royal Navy ship to the country in the past 12 months, following the visits of the Royal Navy flagship HMS Albion, and HMS Argyll.

HMS Montrose is currently operating as part of the UK’s Joint Expeditionary Force, which requires her to be ready to respond to National and Coalition Tasking. Her forward deployment to the Asia-Pacific region is a demonstration of the UK’s commitment to maritime security across the globe, and of the UK’s regional engagement in building regional maritime capability.

HMS Montrose has also been monitoring the enforcement of UN sanctions against North Korea, preventing illegal ship-to-ship transfers of banned goods as part of the international pressure campaign against North Korea’s illegal nuclear programme.

The vessel is also involved in the global campaign against plastic pollution in the oceans, doing its part by recording pollution at remote islands under the British Overseas Territories: the Pitcairn Islands of Pitcairn, Dulcie, Oneo and Henderson.

Commander O’Neill personally conducted an aerial survey of the masses of debris on the shorelines of the islands, in particular Henderson Island, a UNESCO World Heritage Site and dubbed “the most polluted island in the world”.

Full article and images at - https://borneobulletin.com.bn/uks-hms-m ... MoZf3hM-RY

[ivorthediver]

Read with interest thanks David , and great to hear that we are so active out in that neck of the woods and using our assets to the maximum .......even if it is only an elevation of flag waving our lads are benefiting from the experience and we are seen Not to be sat on our butt proffering advice and not participating and telling others how to do their duties

[Pelican]

Royal Navy catches tankers smuggling fuel to North Korea

The Times

HMS Montrose has been working with American, Japanese and South Korean counterparts in the East China Sea

The Royal Navy has identified fuel tankers illegally smuggling petrol to North Korea in what the United Nations says are massive and rampant violations of sanctions.

In the past month the frigate HMS Montrose has gathered evidence of the lengths to which Kim Jong-un’s regime goes to beat sanctions on petrol and coal introduced in 2017 in response to the nuclear and ballistic missile tests. They include vessel spoofing — taking on the names of innocent ships thousands of miles away — and giving out false information over the Automatic Identification System, which broadcasts a ship’s position and identity.

Last month a report by a panel of UN experts said: “The country continues to defy security council resolutions through a massive increase in illegal ship-to-ship transfers of petroleum products and coal.”

Commander Conor O'Neill’s team has helped to investigate about a dozen suspicious vessels

The Montrose, which is on a six-month deployment mainly in Asia, spent ten days working with US, Japanese and South Korean ships in the East China Sea, which is one of the busiest waterways in the world. The crew of the ship’s helicopter looked for “tripwires”: activity that might indicate breaches of sanctions. They did not intercept or board vessels but photographed them to provide evidence for the UN, which has the power to cancel maritime registrations.

“If they look battered or if we see hoses on the upper deck, that’s a sign that they have done a lot of transferring of fuel at sea,” Lieutenant Tom Wilson, flight commander of the Montrose, said. “When you see a ship-to-ship transfer actually happening that doesn’t in itself prove anything suspicious, but we would take a closer look.”

The Montrose investigated about a dozen vessels, half of which were suspicious, including one that showed obvious signs of having repainted its name and registration number. HMS Sutherland, another frigate, carried out similar operations last year and supplied evidence that resulted in the delisting of at least one merchant ship.

“[They] paint out the old name, quickly stencil in a new name and then pick an IMO [International Maritime Organisation] number,” Commander Conor O’Neill, Montrose’s captain, said. “[We] work on the open source databases and work out, ‘You can’t possibly be this ship, because this ship is over there.’”

The report published last month by the panel of experts described in detail a case in October in which 57,600 barrels of oil were transferred from Ocean Explorer to another tanker, which bore the name Maika. She was in fact the Yuk Tung, a ship sailing under a Dominican flag that had been “delisted” in March last year for sanctions violations. For months the Yuk Tung had been transmitting the identity of the Maika, which was flagged in Panama. It used the IMO number of yet another vessel, the Hika, which was at anchor off west Africa, more than 7, 000 miles away.

Hugh Griffiths, the British head of the expert panel, told NBC News: “The techniques being used, some of [them] I’ve never seen before and I’ve been investigating maritime trafficking and smuggling for more than 15 years.”

The UN report says that between January and May last year fuel tankers made at least 89 calls at North Korean ports, almost certainly delivering oil in excess of the 500,000 barrels a year permitted under sanctions. “Ports and airports [in North Korea] were being used for rampant violations of the resolutions, ranging from illegal oil imports and coal exports to the smuggling of bulk cash,” it states.

[Pelican]

4 On 4 Off

HMS Monmouth Sailors Prepare For Middle East Deployment With HMS Montrose
The deployment will see sailors on escort duties in high-threat areas, as well as missions to stop illegal arms and drug smugglers.
Sailors from HMS Monmouth are preparing to deploy to the Middle East with one of her sister ships as part of a new Navy strategy.
The crew will become the new starboard watch of HMS Montrose, the fleet's forward-deployed ship at the UK Naval Support Facility in Bahrain.
Speaking as sailors exercised their freedom of Monmouth, the ship's captain, Commander Will King, told Forces News: "A new pilot that's taking place is something called forward deployment - our ship's company are the first to do this.
"We'll be taking the sister ship to Monmouth, HMS Montrose, who will be permanently stationed in Bahrain in the Middle East and as such, the two crews will be swapping, doing four months on and fours months off."

Continues - https://www.forces.net/news/navy/hms-mo ... s-montrose

[Pelican]

HMS Montrose, was in Colombo today as part of her routine deployment in the Indian Ocean.
See, includes photos - http://www.colombopage.com/archive_19A/ ... _0Fm2RydOc

[Pelican]

HMS Montrose arrives in Sri Lanka

A military band serenaded HMS Montrose into the Sri Lankan capital Colombo – her penultimate stop on an epic voyage from Plymouth to the Gulf.

After a brief pit-stop in Brunei for fuel and supplies, the frigate sailed 3,000 miles past Singapore and through the Strait of Malacca – one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes – to the Commonwealth nation.

A military escort and marching band were waiting on the jetty in Colombo’s civilian port for the frigate – as were several groups of VIPs, Sri Lankan media and groups of school children, all keen to look around the 4,500-tonne warship – while the ship’s company lined the upper decks in their finest tropical uniforms.

Once the gangway was across, the Brits proudly showed their guests around the frigate, talking about the deployment to date and the ship’s impending security mission in the Indian Ocean and Middle East.

Continues with photos at - https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-l ... -sri-lanka

[Pelican]

MONTROSE

HMS Montrose will arrive in Bahrain this week, becoming the first frigate based at the new UK Naval Support Facility.

HMS Montrose’s ‘Port’ crew will will trade places with their ‘starboard’ ship’s company, the first of several 4-month-long crew rotations.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mRvgGJX ... 5u9LjpkUfA