Ships in Class

HMS Leeds Castle

HMS Leeds Castle (P258)

HMS Leeds Castle was a Castle-class patrol ship built by Hall, Russell & Company of Aberdeen, Scotland for the Royal Navy. She was launched in October 1980 and commissioned the following August...

 (P258) (Commissioned August 1981)

HMS Dumbarton Castle

HMS Dumbarton Castle (P265)

HMS Dumbarton Castle was an offshore patrol vessel of the British Royal Navy. Her main role was the protection of the offshore assets of the United Kingdom, including oil and gas installations and fisheries out to the 200 mile limit....

 (P265) (Commissioned March 1982)

Design

The Castle class was intended as a series of six offshore patrol vessels 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...

, designed in response to criticism of the previous Island class

Island class patrol vessel

The Island-class patrol vessel was first designed and built for the Scottish Fisheries Protection Agency. As a result of the Royal Navy's experiences in the so-called Cod War with Iceland, and the success of FPV Jura in fishery protection patrols, the Navy built a further seven...

 for insufficient speed, non optimal sea keeping and lack of a flight deck for rescue helicopters.

In the event, only two ships were built, HMS Leeds Castle and HMS Dumbarton Castle. Both vessels were built by Hall Russell

Hall, Russell & Company

Hall, Russell & Company, Limited was a shipbuilder based in Aberdeen, Scotland, UK-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 boilers. In 1867 the company built its first ship, the Kwang...

 in Aberdeen. These had significant improvements over the Island class - they are 300 tonnes larger, more stable in heavy seas, 3 knots (5.9 km/h) faster and are fitted with a large flight deck that is capable of supporting a Sea King

Westland Sea King

The Westland WS-61 Sea King is a British licence-built version of the American Sikorsky S-61 helicopter of the same name, built by Westland Helicopters. The aircraft differs considerably from the American version, with Rolls-Royce Gnome engines , British made anti-submarine warfare systems and a...

. For brief periods, the ships can accommodate up to 120 troops.

Their primary mission is to serve with 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...

, protecting both the fishing fleets and the oil and gas fields of the North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

. In addition, they can also serve as minelayers, and have detergent

Detergent

A detergent is a surfactant or a mixture of surfactants with "cleaning properties in dilute solutions." In common usage, "detergent" refers to alkylbenzenesulfonates, a family of compounds that are similar to soap but are less affected by hard water...

 spraying facilities on board for dispersing oil slicks.

Operations

Since the Falklands War

Falklands War

The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...

, one ship had been kept long term in the Falkland Islands

Falkland Islands

The Falkland Islands are an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean, located about from the coast of mainland South America. The archipelago consists of East Falkland, West Falkland and 776 lesser islands. The capital, Stanley, is on East Falkland...

 as a guardship. Leeds Castle and Dumbarton Castle rotated the role on a three-yearly basis, although the ship's crew usually did a six month rotation.

Replacement

The Castle class has now been replaced by a unique vessel based on the River class

River class patrol vessel

The River class is a class of three offshore patrol vessels in the Royal Navy, replacing the seven ships of the Island class. A fourth, modified vessel based on the River class has also been built for the Royal Navy, replacing the Castle class, for duties in the Falklands...

, HMS Clyde

HMS Clyde (P257)

HMS Clyde is the ninth ship in the Royal Navy to bear the name. She was launched on 14 June 2006 in Portsmouth Naval Base by VT Group shipbuilders in Portsmouth, England and is the fourth vessel of the River class and the first of a lengthened variety with a larger displacement of 1,850 tonnes and...

, and both vessels of the class are now decommissioned. Originally due to transfer to the Pakistani Maritime Security Agency in 2007, the deal fell through and both ships have now been sold to Bangladesh.