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 R ...

(RNR) training vessels, but after limited use they were transferred to URNU service. Between 1989 and 1991, just before ''Archer''s handover to the URNU, she was commanded by (then) Lieutenant

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, 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 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

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and east coast of Britain to the

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, the

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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 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

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to serve with

URNU East Scotland The University Royal Naval Unit East Scotland (URNU East Scotland or URNUES) ( , less commonly ) is one of 17 University Royal Naval Units and a Royal Navy training establishment based in Scotland, accepting roughly 65 Officer Cadet#Royal Navy, ...

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

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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

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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

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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 hig ...

Operational history

Early service

URNU service

Crew composition

Affiliates

Notes

References

External links