UK Ambassador to Jakarta Dominic Jermey and representatives from the Indonesian Navy were present to welcome HMS Tamar’s arrival.

Led by commanding officer Cdre. Thomas Lindsey, the Batch 2 River-class offshore patrol vessel (OPV) was scheduled to arrive at 9:45 a.m. from her last port of call in Darwin, Australia. Previously she completed a tour of Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands and the British Overseas Territory of Pitcairn Island, as posted on the patrol vessel’s official X account, @hms_tamar.

While its homeport is in Portsmouth in southern England, HMS Tamar is forward deployed permanently in the Indo-Pacific region with a primary logistics hub in Singapore.

HMS Tamar’s visit was aimed at strengthening cooperation with the Indonesian Navy and conducting cultural exchanges with partners in Indonesia, the British Embassy in Jakarta said.

One such exchange is the planned performance of children from Taman Anak Pesisir (Coastal Children Garden) with crew members of HMS Tamar.

HMS Tamar is deployed in the Indo-Pacific region together with its sister ship HMS Spey.

HMS Spey paid a port visit to Jakarta on Jan. 16-21, 2025.

There are five ships of the Batch 2 River-class OPV type. With a displacement of 2,000 tonnes, the vessels have a length of 90.5 meters with a beam of 13 m and a draft of 3.8 m.

The Batch 2 vessels are considerably longer than the three vessels in Batch 1, with a length of 79.5 m and a displacement of 1,700 tonnes.

HMS Tamar and its sisters have a top speed of 25 knots (46 kilometers per hour) with a range of 5,500 nautical miles (10,200 km) and an endurance of 35 days.

The British Ministry of Defense said that Batch 2 ships are capable of constabulary duties, such as "counter-terrorism, counter-piracy and anti-smuggling operations".

Hence, the weapons are limited to one Bushmaster 30-millimeter cannon as the primary gun, as well as two Browning .50 caliber heavy machine guns and two general purpose machine guns.

HMS Tamar is capable of receiving an AW101 Merlin heavy helicopter in its flight deck, although it does not have a hangar. A small unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), however, can be brought along. An unmanned underwater vehicle (UUV) may also be embarked for mine countermeasures. 

The deck can also accommodate six shipping containers, which are useful for disaster relief missions. The ship is also equipped with a 25-tonne crane. (nvn)

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