The Bird-class patrol vessel was a class of large

patrol boat A patrol boat (also referred to as a patrol craft, patrol ship, or patrol vessel) is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defence, border security, or law enforcement. There are many designs for patrol boats, and th ...

built for the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by Kingdom of England, English and Kingdom of Scotland, Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were foug ...

. There were five in total: ''Kingfisher'', ''Cygnet'', ''Peterel'', ''Sandpiper'' and ''Redpole''. The class was designed for patrol and

fishery protection Fishery can mean either the enterprise of raising or harvesting fish and other aquatic life; or more commonly, the site where such enterprise takes place (a.k.a. fishing ground). Commercial fisheries include wild fisheries and fish farms, ...

tasks in coastal and inshore territorial waters. The first of the class were delivered some 18 months late, and the rest approximately two years late. The first four vessels of the class were ordered in late 1972 and commissioned between 1975 and 1977, with the final ship being commissioned in 1983 after a conversion by

Fairmile Marine Fairmile Marine was a British boat building company founded in 1939 by the car manufacturer Noel Macklin. Macklin used the garage at his home at Cobham Fairmile in Surrey for manufacturing assembly which is why the boats he designed came to b ...

. They were built by

Richard Dunston Richard Dunston was a shipbuilder on the Humber, England. The company started building wooden barges miles from the sea and evolved to pioneer fully welded steel ships of a single design. The yard is now closed, although the name continues in ...

for £1.1m each, and were designed for service in the Inshore Division 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 ...

. The class was closely related to the

Royal Air Force Marine Branch The Marine Branch (1918-1986) was a branch of the Royal Air Force (RAF) which operated watercraft in support of RAF operations. Just days after the creation of the RAF itself, the Marine Craft Section (MCS) was created with the transfer of Roya ...

Seal class long-range recovery boats. The vessels had poor seakeeping qualities and the design was therefore considered unsuccessful. As a result, ''Peterel'' and ''Sandpiper'' were employed as training tenders for 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 ...

and never undertook an operational patrol. After a decision was made on their future, they were fitted with an enclosed bridge and assigned to

Britannia Royal Naval College Britannia Royal Naval College (BRNC), commonly known as Dartmouth, is the naval academy of the United Kingdom and the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy. It is located on a hill overlooking the port of Dartmouth, Devon, ...

for training duties. ''Kingfisher'', ''Redpole'' and ''Cygnet'' were assigned to Northern Ireland Squadron to replace the older s.Ripley, Tim and Chappel, Mike (1993). ''Security forces in Northern Ireland (1969–92)''. Osprey, p. 30. The vessels are now privately owned, ''Cygnet'' in the UK, ''Redpole'' in the US and ''Sandpiper'' in the Netherlands.

References

{{Bird class patrol vessel Patrol boat classes Patrol vessels of the Royal Navy Ship classes of the Royal Navy