River Class Patrol Vessel | Review & Overview

This is a short video talking about the history and future of the Royal Navy's River Class Patrol vessel. These Offshore Patrol Vessels are the future patrol vessels for the Royal Navy.
If any of the information was false or incorrect then please notify me in the comments.
DISCLAIMER:
I do not own any of the videos or images used in this video.
SOURCES:
Wikipedia - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River-c...
Royal Navy Website
UK Defence Journal
Save The Royal Navy - www.savetheroyalnavy.org/?s=B...

[@barrielomas9056]

Ton Class Minesweepers During Confrontation with Indonesia 1963 - 1966 were used as Patrol Ships with between 40 and 70 RN, RAN, RNZN, and Malaysian Navy ships They were in a number of fire fights with smugglers, Indonesian forces (either in official or private piracy), shore battery fire, and face offs. Only 450 tons with 40 crew they needed their 40mm Bofor's, twin 20mm Oerlikon with 3 twin machine guns, plus single Bren (Aussie ships had 2 40mm) ' I know of one midshipman killed by mortar fire, one by a booby trapped sampan, plus some dozen or more sailors badly injured on Ton Class. Several others were killed on other ships. That is in Singapore waters. In Feb 69, Franco closed Gibraltar border, then the Frigate acting as Guard ship had several Action Station moments in following months. ' These Patrol craft have the size of Mid 60's Frigate and a fraction of the crew living in luxury. But if push comes to shove all they can do is to signal the RAF to "drop a reef on their position when it comes over a day latter" Patrol duties can get very unpleasant.

[@rockinwackyidk]

It would be good to see them guarding the Channel so that the type 31s when they come into service they can take up the role around the world.

[@stevedix6656]

My Son served on HMS Tyne and also was involved in the final stages of HMS Forths build

[@finlaydainton499]

Hey man love your videos. keep it up please dont stop.

[@SpectreOZ]

River class Patrol vessels ironically not too dissimilar in dimensions to the WW2 River class Frigates 👍

[@MacKay1812]

I think some have recently been fitted with the .50 cal heavy machine guns instead of the GPMGs which are only medium machine guns.

[@jedpcuk]

Ref adding a bigger gun. You say the Bofors 57mm would be overkill for a Patrol Vessel, turning it into a Corvette. I have to disagree. Every contemporary allied navy that has a similar size and spec OPV has them fitted with the ubiquitous OTO 76mm: NL, Denmark, Italy, Spain, and the USCG. France has re-roled light Frigates / Corvettes with 100mm. Thailand has the Krabi which is essentially the River B2 with a 76mm and 2 x 30mm mounts. So it is really a very, very British thing to have an OPV with nothing bigger than a 30mm.

[@HingerlAlois]

I agree a single 57mm or 76mm is certainly not overkill for a patrol vessel. The German federal police has three new ships of the Potsdam class that will be each equipped with a 57mm Bofors and two heavy .50 machine guns.

[@jamesdeery5377]

Look at the Irish navy's patrol vessels the current ones are roughly the same size as the type 2 river class boats but a lot better armed.

[@samtimms4300]

Awesome video could you do a update on the type 26 and 31

[@ThroatSore]

Patrol ship, not a corvette. Would it be good to have the capability to do both?

[@christopherdickinson9265]

We shouldn't upgun these vessels, instead we should increase the T31 order.

[@Jwnorton]

Easy to add a AARAM cartridge launcher, or an RBS-70 (the Swedes have a model for ships) for AA work. Plus, we're on the cusp of HEL projectors, which will do it all in a single package, but need substantial more energy to fire.

[@henryvagincourt4502]

Jwnorton+ No so easy to add the radars needed to go with them mucker.

[@johnbruce4004]

Thoughtful video. I feel that the 40mm would offer better flexibility. Anti-ship/submarine capabilities could be enhanced with containerised system which can taken up as required. The biggest weakness is NUMBERS. You need spares to cover refitting, repair and political events.

[@henryvagincourt4502]

John Bruce+ Little point having AA/ASW if you don't have the abilities to find and track the targets in the first place mucker. I agree the 40 mm Bofors bolt on is about the most that could be hoped for, but again you still have the problem of radar.

[@nate7079]

Love the video! Very informative! Would you consider making a video on the Harry DeWolf class from the RCN?

[@ImminentDefence]

Maybe, I'd need to research the class a bit more though. Thanks for the support though!!!

[@davec5153]

The batch two look like they were designed to have a bigger main gun and vertical missiles forward of the bridge.

[@squirepraggerstope3591]

Wrt the batch2 vessels; YES! Upgrade 'em. ASAP! We are NOT the US and can no longer afford very expensive units that in the final analysis are STILL only capable of undertaking patrol/policing roles. These ships were, in fact, designed and built to be fully upgradeable to 'corvette' std. For example, they already incorporate combat-unit-level features wrt.... - survivability (fire safety and fire-fighting systems, watertight integrity, emergency lighting fit and full ballistic protection of a useful magazine that they certainly don't need for just the current weapons) - sensor fit/capacity (an ops room already fitted with CMS-1 combat management system and ‘Shared Infrastructure’ via a common console system. All of which will facilitate the addition/integration of other sensor systems required for any feasible weapons upgrade package) - communications etc (a full military comms fit, military GPS, and Warship Electronic Chart Display and Information System) It is ridiculous for a power that currently boasts just nineteen high end combat/CBG-escort-capable units (T45, T23) and will STILL only have 19 as T23 is replaced by T26 and T31, to have already committed £635m for 2200te, 25kt, 5500nm range vessels incorporating this sophisticated set of features.. and then provide them with 1 x 30mm Bushmaster each as the main armament... and so have to deploy billion quid T45s and still very capable T23s to play tag at close ranges with Iranian gunboats and multiple fast attack craft in the Strait of Hormuz. Or rather, deploy ONE of each in succession, obliging her to dash about. So ultimately seeing a UK flagged tanker hijacked by the Iranians before the prospective escort was able to take station to deter them. Far better if we could have sent three River Class Corvettes, each packing a dedicated fire-control radar, 1 x 57mm Bofors Mk110, 2 x 30mm ASCG + LMM (Martlet) and also LMM-armed Wildcat Helicopter.. with a telescopic hangar to accommodate it. Better yet if cost considerations also permit them to each receive, say, a fit of Artisan 3D Radar plus 2 x 3-cell Quad-packed Sea Ceptor, utilising the Mk41 Extensible Launching System. The munitions adapter that fits inside the Mk41 cell aligns the 4 missiles and provides shock-mitigation and Sea Ceptor HAS already been married successfully with Mk41 ELS, .

[@petersellers9219]

Great video, thanks. For me, they lack a pop-in cigarette lighter and of course.... Polaris

[@MichaelK.-xl2qk]

They are good looking and seem to be well designed. But as I have read elsewhere, they aren't built to the atandards of a fighting ship either in terms of hardness or fire fighting. Messing around with more guns would probably be unprofitable, as they are adequate and balanced patrol ships. What we need is a modular solution in case of general war, in the form of a 20' shipping container built to hold an array of modular weapons and their associated fire controls. This could include deck mounted torpedoes, Starstreak missiles and an anti-UAV laser. That way no expensive modifications or down time would be incurred on the hulls, nor would a more aggressive apparent posture be assumed. And the solution could be implemented in the most cost-effective and flexible way.

[@andrewhayes7055]

Nearly 2500t with the armament of a punt.

[@drandrewallan]

Under armed pointless boats should have been built as corvettes

[@olentangy74]

Just think of what a powerful punch the Batch 2’s could have if they had just kit of two Harpoon missles.

[@russellbenton2987]

They are patrol ships . Trouble is they are being used as Frigates .

[@maxbooth8738]

In my opinion for the price these should be corvettes. For an extra 50 million, the navy could’ve had 3 brand new corvettes armed with anti-ship, anti-air and a hangar such as the Royal Omani Navy. If they wanted cheap patrol ships they should’ve built that. Currently these vessels cost a lot of money and don’t deliver much except for patrolling (which I understand is there roll). I think they should upgrade the front mount to a 40mm and include 2x 20mm on the sides/rear. As well as adding a telescopic hangar and general purpose missiles such as 12 sea captor silos.

[@ImminentDefence]

Yeah, take a look at the dutch OPVs. They are similar in size and price but are far more capable. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holland-class_offshore_patrol_vessel

[@maxbooth8738]

Immenant Yep, but you don’t even have to look that far. A similar variant of the same ship for Oman is way more capable and is 400 million for 3 instead of the RN’s 350million for 3.

[@maxbooth8738]

Immenant great video btw.

[@TheBooban]

You cant just throw around $50 million for weapons they will never use. The ships are bigger and more expensive in order to be ocean going and for customers who want a corvette.

[@maxbooth8738]

@@TheBooban 50 million is not much in the scheme of how much the navy payed for these patrol vessels. By your logic it is also pointless to fit destroyers and frigates with weapons because they will “likely never use them”. Anti ship and air is just the kind of ship that is needed for overseas patrols in semi-dangerous areas. For the same reason the U.K. is meant to be permanently stationing a frigate or destroyer in the south Atlantic (but can’t because we don’t have enough) having cheap corvettes is a good idea.

[@aon10003]

Its a strange idea to place a vessel on its own and claim that they can chose the type pf engagement.

[@EDProductionsYT]

What rank commands a river class ,do you know?

[@Willemmoseley]

Lieutenant Commander

[@EDProductionsYT]

Is that all I would of said Commander

[@davidwebber814]

It's either a Lt, a Lt Cdr or a Full Cdr depending on role and watch combination.

[@COIcultist]

Hello, I'm guessing English isn't your first language, but I couldn't find any details. I watch some excellent films from foreign creators e.g. Skyships Eng who does fantastic content on history of aircraft model types. You command of English is far greater than my absence of foreign language skills but could you find a type to speech guide for some words. As said elsewhere you used the American pronunciation of Caribbean, your pronunciation of Thornycroft, Ruston and Suez was interesting as well. The above was meant to be a help and not be a criticism.

[@acebrandon3522]

The main cannon should be upgraded to a 57mm gun or a 76mm gun. 2(two) 40mm auto gun placements port and starboard. One anti-air/missile launcher in place of a helo-pad. *To make this batch 2 more of a combat ready system in a worse case issue if a home colony is attacked.

[@benwilson6145]

HMS Clyde was sold to Bahrain.

[@crypticgaming9618]

they are OPV's yes but their size is so large for such few weapons, atleast a 40mm bofors and 2x 30mm or something like that, they are lovely brilliant ships but too underarmed for their size rather than their role

[@beachboy0505]

They need some kind of AA missiles like rapier.

[@archerry6457]

Fornycroft?

[@tomgoff7887]

Why are yiu using the US pronunciation of 'Caribbean' instead of the British pronunciation?

[@SteamboatWilley]

The batch 1s are only there for law enforcement and were never intended for war fighting. Personally I think the fisheries protection and border force fleets should be merged into a US-style Coast Guard and let the Royal Navy concentrate on war fighting. The batch 2s are a cheap way of showing the flag. While they will have limited use in a war-fighting scenario, they are handy for secondary/peacetime roles like disaster relief and stopping piracy, where a frigate would cost far more in terms of both fuel and manpower.

[@davec5153]

Get rid of the crane and build a hangar for a wildcat. Retrofit sea scepter from out of service type 23 in to the space in front of the bridge and replace the 30mm with a 57mm. It looks like it's been built with these improvements in mind. You could only do it with the batch two.

[@stephenporter5886]

I think that it would be better if the Royal Navy would use the 40mm Bofors gun on these ships as standard. Surely it is better to standardise the equipment over several ship designs in the Patrol/Corvette role for ammunitions and servicing for logistical reasoning, rather than to keep several completely different calibres.

[@williamdrijver4141]

Speed = cruising speed, or top speed?

[@ImminentDefence]

I normally always listed the top speed.

[@allanmears4218]

They are not river class batch 2 at all. The overall design is the same as the patrol boats built by Vosper for Trinidad and Tobago. Completely different design to the river class.

[@ImminentDefence]

Hi there, the official designation for the new batch of River Class Patrol ships seems to be River Class Batch 2 according to all the sources that I used. Below I have linked the official Wiki article on them which goes into more detail. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/River-class_patrol_vessel

[@allanmears4218]

The official designation may be river class batch 2 but the vessels are actually based on these. en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazonas-class_corvette We originally built them for Trinidad and Tobago. They cancelled and they were then sold to Brazil.

[@sergarlantyrell7847]

To the people who are upset these ships don't have more firepower, I ask 'for what purpose?' Is the current armament insufficient for deterring pirates (for whom an AK would be standard with the occasional RPG-7 is the worst they carry) or else the belligerent fishing boat encroaching on the UK's fishing rights? In other words the duties of a patrol vessel... Or is this sense that they are "under armed" just a d*** measuring contest comparing to navies where a 2000 ton OPV or cut-priced Corvette is their primary naval asset which will be used for a multitude of tasks the UK has much bigger and better ships for, so up-gun them.

[@loch502]

Great video. I dig the visuals and I learned more about the Royal Navy and her ships. Only problem is your accent is a bit too English!

[@henryvagincourt4502]

Loch+ Too English, so funny mucker.

[@SteamboatWilley]

"Rooston" lol. It's Ruston. Still, at least it's not robotic text-to-speech like so many similar videos on KZbin.

[@robertlackey7212]

If I was going to make them relevant in combat I would add mine laying capability not bigger guns.

[@richardbourne6743]

Shouldn’t be any problem sinking foreign trawlers then.

[@john-im7qd]

We will need these vessels patrolling the Channel and the north sea after the 31st Dec to stop the europeans poaching fish in our territorial waters !

[@corey8420]

Think the bigger problem will be China, Russia and Turkey..the UK needs a 3rd AC and more frigates and destroyers to protect it...we go to war with what we have not what we wish we had

[@frankthompson6503]

UK building 6 all senario combat ships for the royal marines. Okay building four combat vessels. With the rest of the money building 20 fast patrol vessel armed to the teeth. Little smaller than these platforms. Armed with surface to air missiles Ship to ship missles. Torpedoes and mines. Three Bofors gun Three chain guns Three mini guns. Four gpmg machine gun. Put 100 marines on each craft 4 ribs fast craft 2 landing craft 3 scorpions light recon tank 3 scimitar light recon tank. 3 boxer APC 3 Saracens APC better than Landover snatch vehicles.

[@corey8420]

Not sure the relevance of these ships since we are heading towards war with other superpowers. These ships should be canceled and the remaining funds be spent on frigates and destroyers.

[@mac2626]

These vessels are so under armed it’s scandalous and would be laughable, if it were a fact that our brave young sailors lives are at stake!

[@loyalist5736]

German engines ...noooo

[@matthewbaynham6286]

I would expect there to be a different requirement in the amount of armour required when you compare a patrol ship verses a ship in a combat role. If these ships were heavily armoured then it would be very expensive for them to just do a patrol job. How many angry Spanish fishermen would fire cruse missiles at the patrol ship? Or perhaps French fishermen will have 30mm guns on their fishing boats ready for when they encounter the RN. I'm going to guess, when any RN ship in involved in a war, then the RN will have spent the extra money to have very expensive armour being installed throughout the vessel when it was originally being built. Surely the Argentinian Military is more heavily armed than a bunch of Fishermen.

[@oscarbp6375]

GOD SAVE THE QUEEN 🇬🇧🇯🇪 WE NEED FAST PATROL BOAT CAN 40 - 50 KNOT P234 RIVER CLASS HMS CLYDE, HMS SPEY, OR WHAT EVER BUT MAKE WITH GUN M134 2 RUGHT SIDE AND LEFT SIDE, MEDIUM RUDAL LAUNCHER, AND MEDIUM TORPEDO LAUNCHER THE BOAT LENGTH I S GREE BETWEEN 70 - 80 METER 🥳🎊🎉💐💐🌷🌹🌹 AND MAKE 40 UNIT FAST

[@henryvagincourt4502]

There were built as a stop gap to support UK ship building, nothing more.

[@robertmaheu7583]

lol tell the russians before they fire a cruise missile at this ship that its just a patrol ship lol

[@robertmuller3145]

Wortless

[@heywatchme101]

seems like a glorified coast guard ship.

[@ImminentDefence]

You're not wrong :)

[@scaniaf24oot]

Really bad unclear voice on this video. Also pictures do not tie in with the commentry.

[@georgerobert4709]

Constantly flicking back to the rolling sea footage is hugely annoying and makes this virtually unwatchable !