The Bird class patrol vessel was a class of large patrol boat

Patrol boat

A patrol boat is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defense duties.There have been many designs for patrol boats. They may be operated by a nation's navy, coast guard, or police force, and may be intended for marine and/or estuarine or river environments...

 built for the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

. There were five in total: Kingfisher

HMS Kingfisher (P260)

HMS Kingfisher was a of the British Royal Navy.-References:...

, Cygnet, Peterel, Sandpiper and Redpole.

The class was designed for patrol and fishery protection tasks in coastal and inshore territorial waters. The first of the class were delivered some 18 months late, and the rest approximately two years late.

The first four vessels of the class were ordered in late 1972 and commissioned between 1975 and 1977, with the final ship being commissioned in 1983 after a conversion by Fairmile Marine

Fairmile Marine

Fairmile Marine was a British boat building company founded in 1939 by the car manufacturer Noel Macklin.Macklin used the garage at his home at Cobham Fairmile in Surrey for manufacturing assembly which is why the boats he designed came to be called Fairmiles....

. They were built by Richard Dunston

Richard Dunston (shipbuilder)

Richard Dunston was a shipbuilder on the Humber. The company started building wooden barges miles from the sea and evolved to pioneer fully welded steel ships of a single design...

 for £1.1m each, and were designed for service in the Inshore Division of the Fishery Protection Squadron

Fishery Protection Squadron

The Fishery Protection Squadron is a front-line squadron of the Royal Navy with responsibility for patrolling the UK's Extended Fisheries Zone...

. The class was closely related to the Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 Seal class long-range recovery boats. When, in 1985, the fifth vessel – Redpole – was commissioned, it was as a result of the winding up of the RAF Marine Branch. RAFV Sea Otter (5002) was transferred to the Royal Navy on 30 October 1984, and at Brooke Marine

Brooke Marine

Brooke Marine was a Lowestoft-based shipbuilding firm. The company constructed boats and small ships for civilian and commercial use, as well as minor warships for the Royal Navy, Royal Navy of Oman, Royal Australian Navy, Kenya Navy and United States Navy.The company was founded in 1874 as a...

, Lowestoft she was refitted - given armaments, a light grey livery, enclosed wheelhouse and extended bridge wings, and modified several times over the years to help her in her role patrolling Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

. As part of the cuts in the defence budget Redpole was replaced in 1994 by a River class minesweeper

River class minesweeper

The River class was a class of minesweeper built for the British Royal Navy in the 1980s, designated Fleet Minesweepers .-Design:The Rivers were built with a traditional steel hull to a design based on a commercial offshore support vessel...

, and was subsequently earmarked for disposal.

The vessels had poor seakeeping qualities and the design was therefore considered unsuccessful. As a result, Peterel and Sandpiper were employed as training tenders for the Royal Naval Reserve

Royal Naval Reserve

The Royal Naval Reserve is the volunteer reserve force of the Royal Navy in the United Kingdom. The present Royal Naval Reserve was formed in 1958 by merging the original Royal Naval Reserve and the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve , a reserve of civilian volunteers founded in 1903...

 and never undertook an operational patrol. After a decision was made on their future, they were fitted with an enclosed bridge and assigned to Britannia Royal Naval College

Britannia Royal Naval College

Britannia Royal Naval College is the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy, located on a hill overlooking Dartmouth, Devon, England. While Royal Naval officer training has taken place in the town since 1863, the buildings which are seen today were only finished in 1905, and...

 for training duties. Kingfisher, Redpole and Cygnet were assigned to Northern Ireland Squadron

Northern Ireland Squadron

The Northern Ireland Squadron was a unit of the Royal Navy. It was established during the conflict in Northern Ireland known as the Troubles to interdict the movement by sea of illegal arms for paramilitaries and to provide other material support for anti-terrorist operations in Northern...

 to replace the older Ton class minesweeper

Ton class minesweeper

The Ton class were coastal minesweepers built in the 1950s for the Royal Navy, but also used by other navies such as the South African Navy and the Royal Australian Navy...

s.

The vessels are now privately owned, Cygnet in the UK, Redpole in the USA and Sandpiper in the Netherlands.