The Island-class patrol vessel was first designed and built for the

Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency The Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency (SFPA) was an Executive Agency of the Scottish Government. On 1 April 2009, the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency and Fisheries Research Services were merged with the Scottish Government Marine Direc ...

. As a result 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 ...

's experiences in the

Cod Wars The Cod Wars ( is, Þorskastríðin; also known as , ; german: Kabeljaukriege) were a series of 20th-century confrontations between the United Kingdom (with aid from West Germany) and Iceland about fishing rights in the North Atlantic. Each of ...

with

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

, FPV ''Jura'' (loaned to the Navy as ) and FPV ''Westra'' were put in fishery protection patrols, the Navy built a further seven. These ships were designed and built by Hall Russell of

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

, Scotland.

Fishery protection cruisers

FPV ''Jura'' and FPV ''Westra'' were built by

Hall, Russell & Company Hall, Russell & Company, Limited was a shipbuilder based in Aberdeen, Scotland. History Brothers James and William Hall, Thomas Russell, a Glasgow engineer, and James Cardno Couper founded the company in 1864 to build steam engines and boile ...

in 1973 and 1975 respectively. ''Jura'' was loaned to the

between 1975 and 1977 for evaluation.

Royal Navy offshore fishery protection ships

The success of ''Jura'' encouraged the Royal Navy to build a further seven ships to the same design; these ships formed the bulk of the

Fishery Protection Squadron The Overseas Patrol Squadron (known as the Fishery Protection Squadron until 2020) is a front-line squadron of the Royal Navy with responsibility for patrolling the UK's Extended Fisheries Zone, both at home and around British Overseas Territorie ...

, whose mission was to patrol the

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe an ...

fishing grounds, and ensure the security of the British oil and gas fields in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Norway, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium. An epeiric sea, epeiric sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the ...

. However, since the mid-1990s, the class has been gradually decommissioned; ''Jersey'' was sold to the

Bangladesh Navy The Bangladesh Navy ( bn, বাংলাদেশ নৌবাহিনী, Bangladesh Nou Bahini) is the naval warfare branch of the Bangladesh Armed Forces, responsible for Bangladesh's of maritime territorial area, and the defence of imp ...

in 1994, to be followed by ''Shetland'', ''Alderney'', ''Anglesey'', ''Guernsey'' and ''Lindisfarne'', with ''Orkney'' going to

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

. The Island class was replaced in the Fishery Protection Squadron by the three ships of the .

Ships in class

Disposal

Presently, five Island-class patrol vessels are in active service with the Bangladesh Navy. They are (ex-''Alderney''), (ex-''Shetland''), (ex-''Lindisfarne''), (ex-''Anglesey'') and (ex-''Guernsey''). Another ex-Royal Navy Island-class vessel, ''Jersey'', was used as the training ship, Shaheed Ruhul Amin. The final ship of the class, ex-Royal Navy vessel ''Orkney'' is in service with the

Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard The Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force (TTDF) is the military organization responsible for the defence of the twin island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It consists of the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment, the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard, the ...

and named TTS ''Nelson''. The

''Westra'' was sold to the

Sea Shepherd Conservation Society The Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (SSCS) is a non-profit, marine conservation activism organization based in Friday Harbor on San Juan Island, Washington, in the United States. Sea Shepherd employs direct action tactics to achieve its g ...

in 2006 and renamed . ''Jura'' was sold in 1988 and renamed ''Criscilla'', and then ''N'Madi''. She was broken up in Portugal in November 2001.

References

Footnotes

Bibliography

* {{Island class opv Patrol vessels of the United Kingdom Patrol ship classes Ship classes of the Royal Navy Ships built in Aberdeen Vehicles introduced in 1976 1976 establishments in Scotland