HMS Blazer (P279)

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Blazer.

HMS Blazer, 2007
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Blazer
Operator:	Royal Navy
Builder:	Vosper Thornycroft
Commissioned:	1988
Motto:	"Premier in the First"
Status:	in active service, as of 2024
General characteristics
Class & type:	Archer-class patrol vessel
Displacement:	54 tonnes
Length:	20.8 m
Beam:	5.8 m
Draught:	1.8 m
Propulsion:	2 shafts, Rolls Royce M800T diesels, 1,590 bhp
Speed:	14 kn (26 km/h) 45 kn (83 km/h) (Hull design, but limited due to engine fitted)
Range:	550 nmi (1,020 km)
Complement:	18 (training) 12 (operational)
Sensors and processing systems:	Decca 1216 navigation radar
Armament:	1 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon on fo'c'sle ("for but not with") 3 × General purpose machine guns

HMS Blazer is an Archer-class patrol vessel of the Royal Navy. She was built by Vosper Thornycroft. She is just over 20 metres long and 5.8 metres wide and powered by two Rolls-Royce turbo engines. The ship is based at HMS Nelson, the shore base in Portsmouth and was commissioned in 1988.

She has four crew plus a commanding officer, and sails with a training officer and a complement of students. She is attached to the Southampton University Royal Naval Unit (SURNU), under the command of Lt Nicholas Palmer RN. Wider tasking includes: officer cadet training with Britannia Royal Naval College; VVIP visits; security patrols.

In 1993 she was involved in a fishing incident with French trawlers at the port of Cherbourg.

External links

• Royal Navy HMS Blazer (royalnavy.mod.uk)
• Southampton URNU (surnu.co.uk)