HMC ''Vigilant'' is a Border Agency (customs) cutter of the United Kingdom. She was launched by

Damen Shipyards The Damen Group is a Dutch defence, shipbuilding, and engineering conglomerate company based in Gorinchem, Netherlands. Though it is a major international group doing business in 120 countries, it remains a private family-owned company. Dame ...

in the Netherlands in 2003 and is one of four cutters operated by the

UK Border Force Border Force (BF) is a law-enforcement command within the Home Office, responsible for frontline border control operations at air, sea and rail ports in the United Kingdom. The force was part of the now defunct UK Border Agency from its estab ...

History

''Vigilant'' entered service for the British Government by the then

HM Customs and Excise HM Customs and Excise (properly known as Her Majesty's Customs and Excise at the time of its dissolution) was a department of the British Government formed in 1909 by the merger of HM Customs and HM Excise; its primary responsibility was the ...

in 2004. In 2008, the fleet of customs cutters was transferred, along with border control duties, from HM Revenue and Customs to the newly formed

UK Border Agency The UK Border Agency (UKBA) was the border control agency of the Government of the United Kingdom and part of the Home Office that was superseded by UK Visas and Immigration, Border Force and Immigration Enforcement in April 2013. It was forme ...

. She now operates as part of the UK Border Agency fleet of five cutters.

Prefix

The Inland Revenue and

Departments merged to form

HM Revenue and Customs HM Revenue and Customs (His Majesty's Revenue and Customs, or HMRC) is a non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial Departments of the United Kingdom Government, department of the His Majesty's Government, UK Government responsible fo ...

on 18 April 2005, and from this time customs cutters changed their prefix from "HMRC" (Her Majesty's Revenue Cutter) to "HMCC" (Her Majesty's Customs Cutter). Following transfer to the UK Border Agency this was shortened to the current "HMC" (Her Majesty's Cutter) and a new livery applied to the fleet of cutters.As referenced and illustrated in thi
Police Oracle website
article, featuring ''Vigilant''.

Construction

''Vigilant'' is the third of the Customs and Excise's fleet of customs patrol vessels. She was built in 2003 in the

in 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 ...

, and has a steel hull with an aluminium superstructure. Much effort has been expended in making her quiet to reduce crew fatigue; the engines are raft-mounted, decks throughout the ship are of a floating type, and the compartments are constructed on a box-within-a-box principle. The

Rigid Inflatable Boat A rigid inflatable boat (RIB), also rigid-hull inflatable boat or rigid-hulled inflatable boat (RHIB), is a lightweight but high-performance and high-capacity boat constructed with a rigid hull bottom joined to side-forming air tubes that are ...

can be launched from her stern

slipway A slipway, also known as boat ramp or launch or boat deployer, is a ramp on the shore by which ships or boats can be moved to and from the water. They are used for building and repairing ships and boats, and for launching and retrieving small ...

. A per minute fire fighting system for dealing with fires in other ships.

Propulsion

''Vigilant'' is fitted with twin Caterpillar 3516B DI-TA Elec engines driving twin 4-bladed controllable-pitch propellers through a pair of 3.5:1 reduction gearboxes. The total installed power of gives her a top speed of . A single Promac bow thruster is installed for slow speed manoeuvring in confined spaces. Electrical power is supplied by two 106kWA generators.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vigilant Ships built in the Netherlands Ships of the United Kingdom 2003 ships Customs cutters of the United Kingdom