HMS ''Archer'' is the

lead ship The lead ship, name ship, or class leader is the first of a series or class of ships that are all constructed according to the same general design. The term is applicable to naval ships and large civilian vessels. Large ships are very comple ...

of the . As the lead ship she was one of several of her class to be completed in 1985 by Watercraft Marine, the original shipbuilders — most of the remaining vessels were completed or built by

Vosper Thornycroft VTG (formerly VT Group) is a privately held United States defense and services company, with its origins in a former British shipbuilding group, previously known as Vosper Thornycroft. The British part of VTG was integrated into Babcock Interna ...

. In 2015, she was one of the first of her class to receive an upgrade.

Operational history

Early service

The ''Archer'' class were built as

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 ...

(RNR) training vessels, but after limited use they were transferred to URNU service. Between 1989 and 1991, just before ''Archer''s handover to the URNU, she was commanded by (then) Lieutenant Tim Fraser, who subsequently achieved the rank of

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, and is the former Vice-Chief of the Defence Staff.

URNU service

''Archer'' became the training ship of the

Aberdeen URNU The University Royal Naval Unit East Scotland (URNU East Scotland or URNUES) ( RP: , SSE: ) is one of 17 University Royal Naval Units and a Royal Navy training establishment based in Scotland, accepting roughly 65 Officer Cadets from univer ...

in 1991, succeeding ''Chaser''. The role of a training ship within an URNU is to provide opportunities for students to receive practical training and gain experience afloat. ''Archer''s programme is generally divided into two durations of training – a weekend or the longer deployments that take place during the university Easter and summer holidays. Deployments in the Easter and summer venture further afield, ''Archer'' has visited ports from the

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and east coast of Britain to

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, the

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and the

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. These longer deployments are often undertaken in company with other ships such as and . Between 1991 and 1993 she was commanded by (then) Lieutenant

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who subsequently achieved flag rank. The Aberdeen URNU operated from 1967 until 2012 before being moved to Edinburgh. In the summer of 2012, the ship was moved to

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to serve with URNU East Scotland and to increase the presence of the RN in Edinburgh. In June 2017, ''Archer'', in company with HM Ships , and , deployed to the Baltic to take part in the

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BALTOPS exercise, the first time that Royal Navy P2000s have been involved in such an exercise. These deployments have continued with ARCR reaching the Eastern Baltic and the Barents Sea regularly over the following 8 years shifting more to the developing Coastal Warfare Concept, and accommodating a reduced number of URNU students, often running with RN regulars under training in their place. The small nature of the platforms provides an enhanced 1 on 1 training opportunity for our SFT(X) IWOs.

Crew composition

''Archer'' is permanently crewed by five RN personnel, and is captained by a

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Chief petty officer A chief petty officer (CPO) is a senior non-commissioned officer in many navies and coast guards, usually above petty officer. By country Australia "Chief Petty Officer" is the second highest non-commissioned rank in the Royal Australian Navy ...

fills the role of Executive Officer (XO) and Marine Engineering Officer (MEO). The Deputy Marine Engineering Officer (DMEO) and Navigators Yeoman (NY) are junior

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of the appropriate service branches. With additionals embarked (up to a maximum of 15), the ship regularly operates with a crew of 10.

Operational history

Early service

URNU service

Crew composition

Affiliates

Notes

References

External links