HMS ''Dasher'' is an P2000 patrol and training vessel of the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

. ''Dasher'' was built at Vosper Thorneycroft and commissioned in 1988.

Operational history

Prior to 2004, ''Dasher'' was based at Devonport as the training vessel for University Royal Naval Unit Bristol (URNUB). ''Dasher'' and were sent to Cyprus ahead of Operation Telic, the US-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, transported on board the CEC Mayflower. The

Royal Navy Cyprus Squadron The Royal Navy Cyprus Squadron (RNCS) was a Royal Naval Squadron based on the Mediterranean island of Cyprus from February 2003 until April 2010. History It was formed in February 2003 in support of Operation Telic, the British invasion of Ira ...

was created in February 2003, to protect ships around the

Sovereign Base Areas Akrotiri and Dhekelia, officially the Sovereign Base Areas of Akrotiri and Dhekelia (SBA),, ''Periochés Kyríarchon Váseon Akrotiríou ke Dekélias''; tr, Ağrotur ve Dikelya İngiliz Egemen Üs Bölgeleri is a British Overseas Territory ...

in Cyprus, a vital staging post in the British logistic chain to Iraq. Both were fitted with

Kevlar Kevlar (para-aramid) is a strong, heat-resistant synthetic fiber, related to other aramids such as Nomex and Technora. Developed by Stephanie Kwolek at DuPont in 1965, the high-strength material was first used commercially in the early 1970s a ...

armour and three FN MAG general purpose machine guns, with an extra crew member (compared to the P2000s assigned to URNU duties) employed as a gunners yeoman. The Cyprus Squadron was disbanded in 2010 and ''Dasher'' was assigned to the Faslane Patrol Boat Squadron, protecting the ballistic missile submarines at

HMNB Clyde His Majesty's Naval Base, Clyde (HMNB Clyde; also HMS ''Neptune''), primarily sited at Faslane on the Gare Loch, is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Devonport and HMNB Portsmouth). It ...

. In September 2012, she swapped places with the more modern and returned to Devonport as the training vessel of Bristol URNU. From 2020 to 2022, she was posted to

Gibraltar Squadron The Gibraltar Squadron is a unit of the British Royal Navy. It is the only seagoing Royal Naval unit based in Gibraltar, attached to British Forces Gibraltar. It currently includes two ''Cutlass''-class fast patrol boats with a maximum speed of ...

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dasher (P280) Archer-class patrol vessels