HMS ''Orkney'' was an of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

. In 2000 she became TTS ''Nelson'' of the

Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard The Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force (TTDF) is the military organisation responsible for the defence of the twin-island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. It consists of the Trinidad and Tobago Regiment, the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard, the ...

. In 2016, the vessel was sold for

scrap Scrap consists of recyclable materials, usually metals, left over from product manufacturing and consumption, such as parts of vehicles, building supplies, and surplus materials. Unlike waste, scrap can have monetary value, especially recover ...

Construction and British service

''Orkney'' was built by

Hall, Russell & Company Hall, Russell & Company, Limited was a shipbuilder based in Aberdeen, Scotland. History Brothers James and William Hall, Thomas Russell, a Glasgow engineer, and James Cardno Couper founded the company in 1864 to build steam engines and boile ...

Aberdeen Aberdeen ( ; ; ) is a port city in North East Scotland, and is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, third most populous Cities of Scotland, Scottish city. Historically, Aberdeen was within the historic county of Aberdeensh ...

, launched on 29 June 1976 and commissioned in February of the following year. She was modelled on the ocean-going fishery protection vessels ''Jura'' and ''Westra''. As part 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 Territori ...

, along with her

sister ship A sister ship is a ship of the same Ship class, class or of virtually identical design to another ship. Such vessels share a nearly identical hull and superstructure layout, similar size, and roughly comparable features and equipment. They o ...

s, she patrolled the waters around the UK (sometimes also

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

) providing protection for Britain's fishing grounds, as well as providing oil and gas platform protection. In 1978, ''Orkney'' coordinated the clean-up operation after the tanker ''Christos Bitas''

ran aground Ship grounding or ship stranding is the impact of a ship on seabed or waterway side. It may be intentional, as in beaching to land crew or cargo, and careening, for maintenance or repair, or unintentional, as in a marine accident. In accidenta ...

in the

Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...

. She helped co-ordinate the search for survivors from the trawler ''Ocean Monarch'' off

Fair Isle Fair Isle ( ; ), sometimes Fairisle, is the southernmost Shetland island, situated roughly from the Shetland Mainland and about from North Ronaldsay (the most northerly island of Orkney). The entire archipelago lies off the northernmost coa ...

, in 1980 and recovered many of the bodies when the freighter ''Radiant Med'' sank off Guernsey in 1984. In 1993 she became involved in a fishing dispute with France around the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...

Paid off Ship commissioning is the act or ceremony of placing a ship in active service and may be regarded as a particular application of the general concepts and practices of project commissioning. The term is most commonly applied to placing a warship i ...

in April 1999, she was laid up at

Portsmouth Dockyard His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is loc ...

. Following decommissioning, her bell, name board and honours board were presented to Orkney Islands Council.

Trinidad and Tobago service

In 2000 she was sold to the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force and renamed TTS ''Nelson''. During her residency at the Coast Guard's headquarters in Chaguaramas, she saw little naval service as she experienced mechanical and structural problems due to her age at the time. After sixteen years under ownership by the Trinidad and Tobago Defence Force she was sold for

in 2016 upon the Coast Guard's reception of her replacement, TTS ''Nelson II''.

References

Bibliography

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Orkney (P299) Patrol vessels of the Royal Navy Island-class patrol vessels 1976 ships Ships of the Fishery Protection Squadron of the United Kingdom Ships of the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard