British Royal Navy HMS Tamar

Last Friday there were sightings of a Navy vessel sailing past Norfolk Island. Late in the afternoon on 2 February 2024, locals spotted this ship out from Slaughter Bay and around 6pm it was seen sailing past Ball Bay. Photographs were posted on Norfolk Island Facebook pages and details were posted about the visiting Royal Navy ship.

It was identified as belonging to the UK Royal Navy, the HMS Tamar, which is a River class ship, its roll is to assist and support law enforcement missions and secure territorial waters.

HMS Tamar has been working in Australia and the South Pacific since late 2023. Information available on the internet report that early in 2024 HMS Tamar was deployed to the Pitcairn Islands for sovereignty protection and other duties.

The links below has information relating to the Royal Navy vessel, plus I will include images published on the mod.uk internet pages.

HMS Tamar (P233) - Wikipedia

HMS Tamar (P233)

HMS Tamar is a Batch 2 River-class offshore patrol vessel of the Royal Navy. Named after the River Tamar in England, this is the seventh Royal Navy ship to be named Tamar. She is the fourth Batch 2 River-class vessel to be built and is forward deployed long-term to the Indo-Pacific region with her sister ship HMS Spey.

HMS Tamar was lowered into the water on 10 October 2018. The vessel began operational sea trials in late 2019, and she was commissioned into service on 17 December 2020.

• Length 90.5
• Beam 13m
• Troops up to 50
• Crew 34-45

I also read the following information regarding the UK Royal Navy vessel on the above internet link.

In September 2023,

HMS Tamar was operating in Australian waters and in the South Pacific conducting seabed warfare exercises. For these exercises, Tamar embarked divers and autonomous underwater vehicles to conduct mine countermeasures operations and monitor critical infrastructure. The exercises highlighted the ‘plug and play’ modular design of the vessels dependent on their specific mission.

In early 2024,

HMS Tamar was deployed to the Pitcairn Islands for sovereignty protection and other duties.

Additional Navy news links regarding HMS Tamar:

Happy tour for HMS Tamar as she gears up for festive period in South Pacific (mod.uk)

04 December 2023

HMS Tamar has arrived in the Australian city of Cairns in preparation for a festive period and new year around the South Pacific islands.

HMS Tamar - The patrol ship will be one of the most active Royal Navy units as 2023 becomes 2024 on patrol around eastern Australasia.

Statistics give an idea of just how busy the ship has been since sailing from Portsmouth in September 2021. HMS Tamar has

• sailed 60,623 nautical miles – two and a half times around the earth;
• crossed the Equator five times and the International Date Line once;
• visited 38 ports in Europe, the Caribbean, Central America, North America, East and South East Asia, Indian subcontinent, Australasia and Oceania.

Royal Navy joins allies in test of latest undersea tech during major exercise in Australia (mod.uk)

14 November 2023

Patrol ship HMS Tamar has strengthened ties with the Australian and US Navies in the Pacific – and tested a keystone capability of the Royal Navy’s future fleet.

The Portsmouth-based warship has spent the past four weeks operating in and around Sydney, focusing on furthering links with the Royal Australian Navy and an Anglo-American-Australian exercise, testing new equipment which will increase the protection of critical underwater infrastructure.

• The exercise, staged just off the coast of Sydney under the banner of the AUKUS partnership between the three countries, allowed the first run out of the Royal Navy’s new ‘PODS’ programme, designed to expand the capabilities of today’s – and tomorrow’s – warships.
• The workout saw some 39 Royal Navy and US Navy Dive Team, hydrographers and Royal Marine communications specialists embark on Tamar. Supporting them were two mission PODS – Persistent Operational Deployment Systems.

It is always interesting learning about ships, and vessels which visit or pass Norfolk Island. I expect there are many we don’t see, but great spotting by locals last week. It has been interesting reading about the HMS Tamar, the British Royal Navy vessel.

Betty Matthews

9 February 2024