HMS Severn - P282

HMS Severn (P282)seen leaving the Port of Tyne (North East England) on 6th May 2007. Photographed from North Shields.

Information from the Royal Navy web site @
http://www.royal-nav...r/show/nav.2189

HMS Severn's primary role is Fishery Protection although she has many other roles that she can perform, and to this end she carries as her primary weapons, five qualified British Sea Fisheries Officer's (Boarding Officers). It is their job to question Fishing Vessels via VHF Radio Communications and if necessary carry out Inspection Boardings of these vessels.

All boardings start out routine. A routine boarding will begin with launching the seaboat with the boats team and a Boarding Officer (BO) and an Assistant Boarding Officer (ABO) onboard. Once the seaboat has left Severn it is the seaboat driver's job to get the boarding team onboard the target fishing vessel. Once onboard the BO and ABO introduce themselves to the Fishing Vessel Skipper and begin the inspection starting with the Documentation check. After this is complete the boarding team proceed to the fishroom which is very much like a large freezer in the bowels of the fishing vessel. The fishroom is where all the caught fish are stored until the vessel next goes in to harbour. The boarding team's job is to make sure the fish stored there are of the correct species and that they are not juvenile fish. This is important as catching juvenile fish harms the breeding stock and ultimately lowers the amount of fish in the waters around the UK.

On completion of the Fishroom check the boarding team will ask the skipper to 'Haul his nets', the skipper then has to haul in the fishing apparatus he is using. The gear inspection can then begin. The boarding team has to measure that the net the fishermen are using is of the correct dimensions and that there are no illegal attachments, which might reduce the mesh size and allow the fisherman to catch undersize/juvenile fish.

When all of these inspections are complete the boarding team will go back to the wheelhouse and sign and stamp the vessels logbook to verify that an inspection has been carried out. They will then call for the seaboat to pick them up and request direction from HMS Severn to the next customer of the day.

Displacement: 1,677 tonnes
Length: 79.5 metres
Breadth: 13.6 metres
Depth: 3.8 metres
Complement: 30 (Plus Royal Marine boarding party)
Speed: 20 kts
Range:  7800 nautical miles at 12 knots
Armament: 1 x 20mm British Manufacturing and Research Company (BMARC) KAA Gun 2 x General Purpose Machine Gun (GPMG)
Sensors: X and S Band ARPA Radars ECDIS, Data DGPS Loran C, Gyro and Magnetic Compasses Log and Echo Sounder, Wind Speed and Direction Data Recording Rigid Inflatable Boat (RIB) Tracking System GMDSS Area A3 Military communications  
Ships Boats: 2x Halmatic Jet Pacific 22 Rigid Inflatable Boats (RIB)  
Machinery: 2 x Ruston 12RK 270 Main Engines developing 4125kW @ 1000rpm Controllable pitch propellers 280kW Bow Thruster 3 x 250kW main generators 1 x emergency generator VTC Control and Monitoring System