Royal Navy: Portsmouth ship HMS Medway deployed to Caribbean to hunt drug smugglers relieving HMS Trent

HMS Medway, a Portsmouth-based River-class patrol vessel, has been sent to the region in relief of her sister vessel HMS Trent. The latter spent nine months targeting criminals, seizing £750m worth of narcotics and supporting British Overseas Territories during hurricane season. She also became the first Royal Navy vessel to intercept a narco-sub carrying cocaine.

Commanding Officer, Commander Tim Langford, said: “The Royal Navy’s River-class patrol vessels have proved eminently suited to a wide range of tasking across the Caribbean and HMS Trent has delivered real challenge to narcotics smuggling in the region. The truly exceptional output delivered by my team over the past few months will be seamlessly maintained as we pass the baton to HMS Medway for the delivery of UK support to our overseas territories and regional partners.”

HMS Medway has spent much of this year in maintenance following an intensive nine-month stint patrolling The Falkland Islands in 2023, with the vessel undergoing upgrades and repairs in Gibraltar and Portsmouth. She is now on the front-line in a war against narcotics dealers. Sailors will also help communities ravaged by storms and other extreme weather patterns - which impacts the region between June and November.

HMS Trent carried out eight drug busts in seven months, stopping ten tonnes of cocaine reaching the streets of the UK and elsewhere. She will now head too Malta for a period of maintenance via Gibraltar.