Making way for Medway
The UK Royal Navy (RN) carried out the naming ceremony of its latest River-class OPV at BAE Systems Scotstoun shipyard in Glasgow on 20 October.
HMS Medway is the second of the River Batch 2 OPVs to be named. The first of class, HMS Forth, was officially named in March 2017 and is currently conducting sea trials.
According to the MoD the new OPV programme is maintaining jobs and vital skills needed to build new ships ‘for a Royal Navy growing for the first time since the Second World War’.
Despite this sentiment many builds have been reduced from
Our news & analysis is now part of Defence Insight®
A Basic-level or higher Defence Insight subscription is now required to view this content.
More from Naval Warfare
-
![Italy’s U212 Near Future Submarine production builds pace as upgrade plans mature]()
Italy’s U212 Near Future Submarine production builds pace as upgrade plans mature
Andrea Simone Pinna, OCCAR-EA combat system officer for the U212 NFS programme, outlined production progress, new capabilities and plans for the Italian Navy’s next-generation conventional submarine.
-
![How Canada is preparing the future River-class destroyers to endure uncrewed threats]()
How Canada is preparing the future River-class destroyers to endure uncrewed threats
Designed in 2019, Canada's new River-class destroyers are planned to be handed over by the 2050s. The long procurement timeline has cast doubt on whether the platforms will be obsolete for tomorrow’s warfare.
-
![Latest Russian subsea standoff puts pressure on the UK’s seabed defence strategy]()
Latest Russian subsea standoff puts pressure on the UK’s seabed defence strategy
UK defence secretary John Healey’s exposure of a covert Russian deep-sea operation against undersea infrastructure in the Atlantic validates the Royal Navy’s Atlantic Bastion concept but lays bare a capacity gap that autonomous systems, allied integration and sustained investment must close.
