HMC Sentinel

History
United Kingdom
Name: HMC Sentinel
Builder: Vosper Thorneycroft, United Kingdom
Commissioned: 1993
Decommissioned: July 2013
General characteristics
Length: 36.04 m (118.2 ft)
Beam: 7.5 m (25 ft)
Draught: 2.5 m (8.2 ft)
Endurance: 14 days
Boats & landing
craft carried:		 One RIB
Complement: 12
Armament: Nil

HMC Sentinel was a patrol ship operated by the Border Force in the role of patrolling the waters of the United Kingdom. It is a Vosper Thorneycroft 'Island Class' vessel and was commissioned in 1993.[1]

History

HMC Sentinel entered service in 1993 with what was then HM Customs and Excise (HMCE). HMCE merged with the Inland Revenue in 2005, and the cutter fleet became part of the newly founded HM Revenue and Customs. In 2008, the fleet transferred to the UK Border Agency and then to UK Visas and Immigration, both established to maintain the UK border,[2] and it operated as the oldest vessel in the UK Border Force's fleet of five cutters.[3] HMC Sentinel was decommissioned July 2013 in Portsmouth, Hampshire.[4]

Prefix

From the merger of the Inland Revenue and HM Customs and Excise into HM Revenue and Customs on 18 April 2005, customs cutters changed their prefix from "HMRC" (Her Majesty's Revenue Cutter) to "HMCC" (Her Majesty's Customs Cutter). Following the transfer to the UK Border Agency this was shortened to the present "HMC" (Her Majesty's Cutter) and a new livery was applied to the fleet.[5]

Propulsion

The cutter is fitted with twin Caterpillar diesel engines (Caterpillar 3516B DI-TA elec Diesel Engines 4,176 kW; 5,600 hp) and a Perkins CV8M600 Diesel Engine.[6]

References

  1. ↑ "Our fleet of cutters". UK Border Agency. Retrieved 20 May 2013.
  2. ↑ "Coastal crack down on drug smuggling", Penarth Times, 30 April 2010
  3. ↑ Babcock completes first refit of UK Border Agency vessel, Babcock International website.
  4. ↑ "Border Force Partner Bulletin, October 2013"
  5. ↑ "Face lift for Border Force cutters", Carrick Castle Boat Club
  6. ↑ "Past fleet - Sentinel". Revenue Cutter Association. Retrieved 23 November 2013.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/5/2015. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.