Royal Navy: Former HMS Scimitar MV Lady Jean arrives in Africa for new adventure after leaving Portsmouth

MV Lady Jean, formerly known as HMS Scimitar, was taken on a 4,000 miles trip to Lake Victoria after being overhauled by UK Docks Maritime Services in Gosport. The News reported in September that a team at Endeavour Quay spent the past year repurposing the former Scimitar-class fast patrol boat.

She previously spent most of its service life patrolling the waters around Gibraltar. UK Docks’ work for the Vine Trust Charity, supported by Babcock and the local supply chain, required plenty of thinking outside the box and innovation to solve the multiple challenges in converting her into a medical supply vessel.

The biggest obstacle was finding an engine to fit the former patrol ship, and UK Docks scoured Europe before sourcing one in Holland, which was brought to Gosport and successfully installed. After coming through sea trials with flying colours, the MV Lady Jean was initially transported to Mombasa, Kenya, on the East coast of Africa but has now made it all the way across to Lake Victoria in the southeast of the continent, where she will provide services to thousands of local people.

The Vine Trust is an international development charity that works with long-term Peruvian and Tanzanian partners to strengthen health systems and implement construction projects in isolated and vulnerable communities in the Amazon and on Lake Victoria. She will enter into service with the Jubilee Hope Medical Programme, significantly increasing its capacity to reach patients on the remote islands of Tanzanian Lake Victoria.

A significant part of the vessel’s work will be to create a new supply chain of life-saving medication (antiretrovirals) for people living with HIV, as well as enhancing existing testing, counselling and treatment services provided by the programme.

Kenny Holt, chief executive of the Vine Trust, said they were “incredibly grateful” for HMS Scimitar being transformed into a first-class medical ship. He said: “In the next few years, the ship will deliver hundreds of thousands of free medical services to people in remote and vulnerable island communities on Lake Victoria.”

Charlie Barley, UK Docks director at Endeavour Quay, said: “We’re absolutely delighted that the job is now complete and the MV Lady Jean has arrived at Lake Victoria. To be honest, converting HMS Scimitar so that she would go on to a new role was a labour of love for our team and although there were some challenges along the way, we were determined the project would be a success.

“It’s one of those marine projects where everyone involved collaborated really well together because we were aware of the bigger picture. Vine Trust is a fantastic charity and it’s great that the MV Lady Jean will now go on to do so much to protect and improve health for thousands of people in the years to come.”

After arriving in Kenya, MV Lady Jean was loaded onto specialist transport for her long journey across Africa and will now operate as a mobile medical boat serving the numerous islands on the water. International defence company Babcock funded the year-long conversion and contracted the work out to UK Docks where she was equipped with a new generator, galley with fridges, ovens, sinks, serving areas and an air conditioning unit. Her wheelhouse was partly converted into a waiting room with additional seating.

Engineers completed a total redesign of the aft deck with guardrails, boarding steps and a boarding platform fitted to the transom to allow patients to board, with a new engine being sourced, stripped down and rebuilt using parts from HMS Scimitar’s original engine.

UK Docks managing director Jonathan Wilson said: “Our company carries out servicing and maintenance of vessels from the North East down to the South Coast, and each project is unique in its own way. But the conversion of HMS Scimitar into the MV Lady Jean was particularly special. We would like to thank The Vine Trust and Babcock for entrusting us with the work and we wish the MV Lady Jean many further years of successful service.”