HMS ''Example'' is an patrol and training vessel of the

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 F ...

, based at in

Gateshead Gateshead () is a large town in northern England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank, opposite Newcastle upon Tyne, Newcastle to which it is joined by seven bridges. The town contains the Gateshead Millennium Bridge, Millennium Bridge, Sage ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. ''Example'' was originally built for the

Royal Naval Auxiliary Service The Royal Naval Auxiliary Service (RNXS) was a uniformed, unarmed, civilian volunteer service, administered and trained by the Royal Navy to operate in the ports and anchorages of the United Kingdom in an emergency. Although the abbreviated title w ...

, and was transferred to the Royal Navy when the RNXS disbanded in 1994. On transfer, she retained her name, and became the first ship in the Royal Navy to bear that name. HMS ''Example'' is currently part of the Coastal Forces Squadron, formerly 1st Patrol Boat Squadron. The mission statement of the CFS is to "provide support to allow the conduct of safe and effective P2000 operations in support of the URNU sea-training syllabus"; URNU is acronym for

University Royal Naval Unit 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 ...

. ''Example'' is attached to the Northumbrian URNU, is based at the shore establishment HMS ''Calliope'' in Gateshead, and has a crew of 5 (plus up to 12 students). ''Example'' acts as a training ship for students at

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city and the county town of County Durham *County Durham, an English county * Durham County, North Carolina, a county in North Carolina, United States *Durham, North Carolina, a city in N ...

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area in Australia, named after Newcastle ...

Northumbria la, Regnum Northanhymbrorum , conventional_long_name = Kingdom of Northumbria , common_name = Northumbria , status = State , status_text = Unified Anglian kingdom (before 876)North: Anglian kingdom (af ...

Teesside Teesside () is a built-up area around the River Tees in the north of England, split between County Durham and North Yorkshire. The name was initially used as a county borough in the North Riding of Yorkshire. Historically a hub for heavy manu ...

and

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

universities. The ship takes part in deployments over the university summer and Easter holidays, giving the students an opportunity to spend a longer amount of time living on board the ship and to experience larger scale naval operations with other URNUs.

Operational history

''Example'' was built by Watercraft Ltd of Shoreham by Sea and launched in 1985. She was initially delivered to the

Royal Navy Auxiliary Service The Royal Naval Auxiliary Service (RNXS) was a uniformed, unarmed, civilian volunteer service, administered and trained by the Royal Navy to operate in the ports and anchorages of the United Kingdom in an emergency. Although the abbreviated title w ...

(RNXS) as an auxiliary service vessel with the

pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...

A153. She was the lead vessel of a batch of four vessels known as the ''Example'' class, but was identical in design to the ''Archer'' class of patrol boats being simultaneously built for the Royal Navy. ''Example'' and her

sisters A sister is a woman or a girl who shares one or more parents with another individual; a female sibling. The male counterpart is a brother. Although the term typically refers to a familial relationship, it is sometimes used endearingly to refer to ...

were transferred to the Royal Navy when the RNXS disbanded in 1994. She retained her existing name, but was reclassified as a patrol boat of the ''Archer'' class, and was given the new pennant number of P165. The ship played a prominent role in the 2004 ''

Entente Cordiale The Entente Cordiale (; ) comprised a series of agreements signed on 8 April 1904 between the United Kingdom and the French Republic which saw a significant improvement in Anglo-French relations. Beyond the immediate concerns of colonial de ...

'' celebrations, and escorted in the 2005 International Fleet Review. In summer 2006 the ship celebrated its 21st birthday with divisions at HMS ''Calliope'' with the salute taken by N Sherlock, Lord Lieutenant of Tyne and Wear. In 2008, ''Example'' took a prominent role in the Tyneside celebrations to mark the centenary of the Territorial Army centred on the Gateshead Millennium Bridge. In 2012, in the company of sister ships , and , ''Example'' undertook a 12-week deployment visiting

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

, 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

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

before transiting the

Kiel Canal The Kiel Canal (german: Nord-Ostsee-Kanal, literally "North- oEast alticSea canal", formerly known as the ) is a long freshwater canal in the German state of Schleswig-Holstein. The canal was finished in 1895, but later widened, and links the N ...

and attending

Kiel Week The Kiel Week (german: Kieler Woche) or Kiel Regatta is an annual sailing event in Kiel, the capital of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. It is the largest sailing event in Europe, and also one of the largest Volksfeste in Germany, attracting ...

. The deployment continued to

Stockholm Stockholm () is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, largest city of Sweden as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people liv ...

St Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...

and

Tallinn Tallinn () is the most populous and capital city of Estonia. Situated on a bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, Tallinn has a population of 437,811 (as of 2022) and administratively lies in the Harju ' ...

before returning to the UK. In November 2016, ''Example'' rejoined the fleet after a prolonged refit during which she received new engines allowing the ship to reach speeds of up to .

Notes

References

External links

HMS Example Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Example, HMS Patrol vessels of the Royal Navy Archer-class patrol vessels Durham University Newcastle University Northumbria University University of Sunderland Teesside University 1985 ships

Operational history

See also

Notes

References

External links