HMS ''Ranger'' is an 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 ...

, based in HMNB Portsmouth. She is affiliated to Sussex and Brighton Universities'

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 ...

(or SUSURNU), which has its offices at the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

, Brighton. Her badge is a ship's wheel superimposed on seven blue roundels, representing the seven seas.

Construction

HMS ''Ranger'' was built at

Shoreham-by-Sea Shoreham-by-Sea (often shortened to Shoreham) is a coastal town and port in West Sussex, England. The town is bordered to its north by the South Downs, to its west by the Adur Valley and to its south by the River Adur and Shoreham Beach on th ...

by Watercraft Ltd. in 1987.

Operational history

''Ranger'' was originally allocated to Ulster Division of the

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 ...

based in Belfast on and used for Junior Officer training. In 1991 she went to

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

with to form the

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 ...

, and returned to the UK to become Sussex URNU's allocated P2000 in early 2004. Being a cadet training ship, ''Ranger'' is not equipped with live weaponry unless required for a supervised training exercise. It is fitted for - but not with - a 20 mm 85 GAM Cannon, as well as storage for four standard service rifles and two

GPMG A general-purpose machine gun (GPMG) is an air-cooled, usually ammunition belt, belt-fed machine gun that can be adapted flexibly to various tactical roles for light machine gun, light and medium machine guns. A GPMG typically features a quick-c ...

s. Alongside she was deployed on the Thames for the

Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant The Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant was a parade on 3 June 2012 of 670 boats on the Tideway of the River Thames in London as part of the celebrations of the Diamond Jubilee of Elizabeth II. The Queen, Prince Philip and other members of th ...

as part of the Royal Squadron escorting the Royal Barge. Subsequent to this, she departed upon a twelve-week deployment in company with ''Trumpeter'', and around the

Baltic Baltic may refer to: Peoples and languages * Baltic languages, a subfamily of Indo-European languages, including Lithuanian, Latvian and extinct Old Prussian *Balts (or Baltic peoples), ethnic groups speaking the Baltic languages and/or originati ...

, representing the UK at

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 ...

. In June 2017, ''Ranger'', 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.

Role

''Ranger'' provides sea training to members of the Sussex University Royal Naval Unit. She can also be tasked with maritime security, search and rescue and inshore patrol.

Affiliations

* Sussex and Brighton University Royal Naval Unit * Seaford College CCF *

Lewes District Council Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. It is the police and judicial centre for all of Sussex and is home to Sussex Police, East Sussex Fire & Rescue Service, Lewes Crown Court and HMP Lewes. The civil parish is the centre of the ...

* TS ''Defiance'' (Newhaven & Seaford Sea Cadets) * Bond of Friendship -

Ocracoke, North Carolina Ocracoke
, from the North Carolina Collection website at the

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ranger Archer-class patrol vessels