HMS ''Archer'' is the

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very complex and may ...

of the . As the lead ship she was one of several of her class to be completed in 1985 by Watercraft Marine, the original shipbuilders — most of the remaining vessels were completed or built by

Vosper Thornycroft VT Group is a privately held United States defense and services company, with its origins in a former British shipbuilding group, previously known as Vosper Thornycroft. The British part of VT Group was integrated into Babcock International in t ...

. In 2015, she was one of the first of her class to receive an upgrade.

Operational history

Early service

The ''Archer'' class were built as

Royal Naval Reserve The Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) is one of the two volunteer reserve forces of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. Together with the Royal Marines Reserve, they form the Maritime Reserve. The present RNR was formed by merging the original Ro ...

(RNR) training vessels, but after limited use they were transferred to

URNU The University Royal Naval Units (URNU) ( , less commonly ) (formerly Universities' Royal Naval Units) are Royal Navy training establishments who recruit Officer Cadets from a university or a number of universities, usually concentrated in one ...

service. Between 1989 and 1991, just before ''Archer''s handover to the URNU, she was commanded by (then) Lieutenant

Tim Fraser Admiral Sir Timothy Peter Fraser, is a retired senior Royal Navy officer who served as Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff from May 2019 to August 2022. Early life Fraser was educated at Lord Williams's School, a comprehensive school in Thame, Ox ...

, who subsequently achieved the rank of

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, and is the former Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff.

URNU service

''Archer'' became the training ship of the

Aberdeen URNU , image = URNUES Crest.png , caption = Crest Of URNU East Scotland , country = , branch = , colours = Navy Blue Gold , r ...

in 1991, succeeding ''Chaser''. The role of a training ship within an URNU is to provide opportunities for students to receive practical training and gain experience afloat. ''Archer''s programme is generally divided into two durations of training – a weekend or the longer deployments that take place during the university Easter and summer holidays. Deployments in the Easter and summer holidays venture further afield, ''Archer'' has visited ports from the

Western Isles The Outer Hebrides () or Western Isles ( gd, Na h-Eileanan Siar or or ("islands of the strangers"); sco, Waster Isles), sometimes known as the Long Isle/Long Island ( gd, An t-Eilean Fada, links=no), is an island chain off the west coas ...

and east coast of Britain to the

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ga, Éire ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 counties of the island of Ireland. The capital and largest city is Dublin, on the eastern side of the island. A ...

, the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

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and the

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. These longer deployments are often undertaken in company with other ships such as and . Between 1991 and 1993 she was commanded by (then) Lieutenant

John Clink Rear Admiral John Robert Hamilton Clink, (born 18 February 1964) is a former Royal Navy officer who retired from the Royal Navy in 2018. Early life and education Clink was born on 18 February 1964. He was educated at Cheltenham Grammar School, ...

who subsequently achieved flag rank. The Aberdeen URNU operated from 1967 until 2012 before being moved to Edinburgh. In the summer of 2012, the ship was moved to

Rosyth Dockyard Rosyth Dockyard is a large naval dockyard on the Firth of Forth at Rosyth, Fife, Scotland, owned by Babcock Marine, which formerly undertook refitting of Royal Navy surface vessels and submarines. Before its privatisation in the 1990s it was fo ...

to serve with URNU East Scotland and to increase the presence of the RN in Edinburgh. In June 2017, ''Archer'', in company with HM Ships , and , deployed to the Baltic to take part in the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

BALTOPS exercise, the first time that Royal Navy P2000s have been involved in such an exercise.

Crew composition

''Archer'' is permanently crewed by five RN personnel, and is captained by a

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

Chief petty officer A chief petty officer (CPO) is a senior non-commissioned officer in many navies and coast guards. Canada "Chief petty officer" refers to two ranks in the Royal Canadian Navy. A chief petty officer 2nd class (CPO2) (''premier maître de deuxi� ...

fills the role of executive officer and a Petty Officer is the marine engineering officer, and the yeoman and Deputy Marine engineering officer are junior

rates Rate or rates may refer to: Finance * Rates (tax), a type of taxation system in the United Kingdom used to fund local government * Exchange rate, rate at which one currency will be exchanged for another Mathematics and science * Rate (mathema ...

of the appropriate service branches. With students embarked (up to a maximum of 10), a training officer is usually present who is typically a RNR lieutenant or

sub-lieutenant Sub-lieutenant is usually a junior officer rank, used in armies, navies and air forces. In most armies, sub-lieutenant is the lowest officer rank. However, in Brazil, it is the highest non-commissioned rank, and in Spain, it is the second high ...

Operational history

Early service

URNU service

Crew composition

Affiliates

Notes

References

External links