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HMS ''Redpole'' (P259) was built in 1974 by Fairmile Marine at Berwick-upon-Tweed as RAFV ''Sea Otter'', the third Seal class Long Range Recovery and Support Craft of the Royal Air Force Marine Branch. The Seal class was similar to the s of the British Royal Navy. .


Royal Naval service

In anticipation of the disbandment of the
RAF Marine Branch The Marine Branch (1918-1986) was a branch of the Royal Air Force (RAF) which operated watercraft in support of RAF operations. Just days after the creation of the RAF itself, the Marine Craft Section (MCS) was created with the transfer of Roya ...
in 1986, ''Sea Otter'' was transferred to the Royal Navy on 30 October 1984. At Brooke Marine, Lowestoft, she was refitted - given armaments, a light grey livery, an enclosed wheelhouse and extended bridge wings, and modified several times over the years to help her in her role patrolling Northern Ireland.


Post-UK service

As part of the cuts in the defence budget, ''Redpole'' was replaced in 1994 by a and was subsequently earmarked for disposal. The ship was sold in 1996 and spent four years in Southampton. The ship was sold again in 2000 to a founder of Digex, renamed RV ''Badtz Maru'' (after Bad Badtz-Maru), and moved to
Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was d ...
, Maryland. Since 2012, as ''Seaman Guard Virginia,'' she has participated in anti-piracy patrols conducted by maritime private military contractor
AdvanFort AdvanFort is a US Private military company, private maritime security company founded in 2009 and headquartered in Herndon, Virginia. It focuses on defense and homeland security products, technologies and services. Currently it has more than 100 e ...
in the
Gulf of Aden The Gulf of Aden ( ar, خليج عدن, so, Gacanka Cadmeed 𐒅𐒖𐒐𐒕𐒌 𐒋𐒖𐒆𐒗𐒒) is a deepwater gulf of the Indian Ocean between Yemen to the north, the Arabian Sea to the east, Djibouti to the west, and the Guardafui Channe ...
.


References

Bird-class patrol vessels 1970 ships {{UK-mil-ship-stub