Five years of support for HMS Tamar - Navy News article
The Richardson family, and the Richardson Brothers Foundation, have been long-standing supporters of all branches of the British military, including the Royal Navy.
As part of this support, in recent years a particular association has been built up with HMS Tamar, dating back to when she was commissioned in late 2020.
In September, HMS Tamar, and her sister ship HMS Spey, marked 5 years of active service. Navy News (www.navynews.co.uk) produced the article below to celebrate the occasion and to shine a light on the role these vessels play supporting the UK overseas.
"DO YOU remember September 7 2021?
There’s no particular reason why you should.
A pretty regular late summer/early autumn Tuesday.
The submarine thriller Vigil was the TV show to watch.
Boris Johnson was prime minister.
And who can forget Kiss My (Uh-oh) by Anne-Marie and Little Mix being top of the charts?
A lot of water has passed under the bridge since then.
We’re now on our fifth different premier.
Petrol is now about 25p more expensive per litre due to global events.
Vigil’s just started its third series.
Little Mix have split (sob).
And His Majesty’s Ships Spey and Tamar have clocked up around 160,000 nautical miles apiece during around 15,000 hours at sea.
Collectively that’s nearly 15 times around the world and 178 weeks (nearly 3½ years) under way.
Crew have changed around 60 times during some of the 120 port visits the pair have made.
They left Portsmouth that September Tuesday in 2021... and 1,826 days later celebrated five years deployed to the Indo-Asia-Pacific region, Tamar in the Indonesian port of Kota Kinabalu on Borneo, Spey in Singapore where a routine maintenance period was drawing to a close. And yes, there was cake.
Their domain is vast: from the eastern seaboard of Africa to the west coast of the USA - about 8,600 miles as the crow flies (roughly equivalent to the distance from the UK to Antarctica).
More typically, the ships can be found between the east coast of India and the western Pacific Rim (Japan-Philippines-Australasia and the Pacific islands out as far as the Pitcairns).
Even this ‘limited’ operational area is about four times the size of the European continent, spanning a wealth of countries, from Commonwealth nations such as Singapore, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand, to long-standing allies like Japan and South Korea and major regional military and economic powers such as India and China.
And at the opposite end of the spectrum, some of the most sparsely populated island chains, atolls and archipelagos.
It makes for a rich experience: the widest possible range of customs, cultures, religions, wealthy nations, developing ones, countries with the closest linguistic, social, cultural and economic ties with the UK... and those who’ve rarely seen a Brit.
Above all, the mission - Operation Highwall, the overarching codename for all the UK’s Armed Forces work in the Indo-Asia-Pacific - is as wide-ranging as the area it spans: participation in major international naval exercises (14 by Spey alone, soon to be 15 with Bersama Lima looming... also involving Tamar) to providing disaster relief and humanitarian aid after disasters, helping regional navies and authorities police their waters to prevent smuggling, drug-trafficking or illegal fishing, and promoting military and economic ties with the UK.
Above all Spey and Tamar have re-established a constant Royal Navy presence after the return of Hong Kong a quarter of a century in a region of increasing importance to our security and prosperity.
Ok, that’s the opening gambit out of the way.
So where are we after five years?
Well, we’ve learned how to operate two warships thousands of miles from home with no Royal Navy base in the region (with the exception of facilities at Sembewang), changing crews every six to seven weeks sometimes in regional hubs like Singapore, at others in far-flung Pacific islands.
We’ve learned to take on fuel and supplies in ports known and relatively unknown, and conduct maintenance at (a very long) arm’s length from the UK.
We’ve learned how to enforce UN sanctions imposed on North Korea by patrolling off the peninsula. Conducted freedom of navigation missions in disputed waters, exercising rights under UN law to sail through international waters, sometimes individually, sometimes in company with regional allies.
We’ve reconnected with places and nations not visited for years, even decades.
Like Cambodia. Before HMS Spey visited in 2023, the White Ensign hadn’t been seen in the country since the 1950s.
Now it’s been seen three times in three years, most recently a few weeks ago when Tamar paid her first visit to Cambodia and became the first RN vessel to make use of Cambodia’s new naval base, Ream, in the port city of Sihanoukville, which lies about 130 miles southwest of the capital Phnom Penh.
Welcomed by two Cambodian patrol craft, a guard of honour on the jetty and flowers presented to Commanding Officer Commander Tom Lindsey, Tamar conducted joint training, hosted VIPs and local schoolchildren on board, and experienced the sights of a vibrant city not on most Britons’ travel itinerary.
The military aspect of the visit focused on strengthening maritime cooperation and professional partnerships.
The Royal Cambodian Navy operates around 20 vessels – mostly small and large patrol boats, plus some landing craft, but also the corvette Koh Kong Senchey.
Beyond defending the country’s shoreline, it focuses on countering criminal activities - smuggling, drug running, people trafficking and piracy – and providing search and rescue for fishermen.
Cambodian sailors were invited aboard Tamar for medical and damage control training alongside their British counterparts, spanning trauma care at sea and preventing flooding.
The British ship hosted an evening reception for government officials, military representatives, members of the diplomatic community, business leaders and regional leaders.
And crew also welcomed local primary school pupils, who got to don fire-fighting kit and spray water over the side of the ship, before finishing with board games and drawing in the wardroom.
Half a century since the atrocities and genocide of the Pol Pot regime – more than one a quarter million Cambodians were murdered – the executions and maltreatment continue to cast a long shadow on the country.
That was underlined to sailors on a tour of the city centre which was organised by the naval base commander to showcase the beauty of the royal palace but also the atrocities which have occurred in Cambodia’s recent history through a visit to the killing fields.
Among the legacies of Pol Pot regime is its continuing impact on the country’s youth: more than half of Cambodia’s children drop out of school, physical abuse is widespread as is poverty and nutritional problems which impact physical growth.
The M’lop Tapang organisation offers a shelter and support for children and young people in Sihanoukville and a team from Tamar headed to its HQ to spruce up the facilities, giving recreational facilities and seats and benches a fresh – and bright – new coat of paint.
“A personal highlight for me was going to the children’s charity centre to paint the recreation area because we got to help those who had nothing and see the joy in the kids’ faces as we worked together to brighten up the area,” said Leading Medical Assistant Stanex.
Bonds with the Royal Cambodian Navy were strengthened through games of volleyball and football games followed by a joint barbecue.
This is bread and butter fare on Highwall. Showcasing the RN. Showcasing the UK. Showing we’re compassionate. Showing we want to work with navies across the region for the good of all.
There have been actions you cannot put a value on.
Such as delivering aid – bottled water in particular – to Tonga after a massive underwater volcanic eruption and tsunami in early 2022, one of Spey’s first acts upon reaching her operational theatre.
And several generations of seafarers have passed Henderson Island - roughly half-way between New Zealand and Peru - without realising it’s in the wrong place. Work by Spey navigational team and hydrographers determined it was about a mile away from where it was marked on the charts. The change to the UKHO’s charts didn’t impact islanders, for there are none.
Yet it’s quirky episodes like that and the chance to see places like Henderson (once dubbed the most polluted island on the planet due to the plastics and other detritus washed up on its shore) which linger long in the memory.
Tahiti has proved to be one of the most popular visit thanks to the combination of being somewhere most Britons won’t have visited, plus a vibrant nightlife.
And Pitcairn Island – where the Bounty mutineers settled more than 200 years ago and which both ships have visited – is one of those ‘money can’t buy’ experiences.
“It’s somewhere that few people will ever visit – and when the ship arrived we doubled the population! While we were there we got to pick fruits such as coconuts and grapefruits straight from the trees,” said Able Seaman Hart, one of Tamar’s gunnery team.
“My Nan comes from Thailand so it’d be great to visit there to be able to relate to all her great stories and to experience the authentic food.”
Being deployed so far from home Able Seaman Hart, one of HMS Tamar’s gunnery team, misses her family and partner, although the WiFi set-up on board allows her to maintain regular contact and exchange photos with loved ones.
Lieutenant Jack Patterson, HMS Spey’s navigating officer, has also missed being away from his family (fiancée and cat) and home comforts like Irn Bru.
But the plus side have been experiences of a lifetime: visiting Hiroshima and picture-postcard Pacific islands.
“The lasting memory of my time on Spey is beginning a day when a new, exciting or obscure location not yet visited appears over the horizon,” he added.
These places account for just a handful of the 125 ports and locations the sister ships have called at: Vanuatu, Timor Leste, New Caledonia, Papua New Guinea and a string of island chains (Pitcairn, Solomon and Chagos).
There’s still a lot more to come, says Cdr Lindsey: “Even though my ship has been on station in the Indo-Asia-Pacific for five years, we’re still forging new ground, such as our recent visit to Cambodia which was the first time a British warship entered their newly constructed naval base.”
His opposite number in charge of HMS Spey, Commander Dan Briscoe, says everyone involved in the mission could feel proud at what the two ships have achieved.
He continued: “We’ve maintained a persistent presence over 8,000 nautical miles from the UK, with long logistical supply chains, delivering on operations, over 300 days at sea every year.
“And we have flown the Royal Navy and UK flag in a hugely important geopolitical region with very little other consistent UK footprint.”
And the praise for the Highwall deployment goes all the way to the top.
Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Steve Moorhouse believes if you want bangs (and by bangs we mean impact) for buck, then the two River-class vessels are delivering “effect far beyond their size – strengthening partnerships, upholding the international rules-based order while contributing to maritime security, UN operations, multinational exercises, sanctions enforcement, fisheries protection and much, much more.
The admiral continues: “They have been there when our partners needed them most: delivering humanitarian assistance and disaster relief following the Tonga volcanic eruption and tsunami and devastating cyclones in Vanuatu, while building the capacity and resilience of nations across the Pacific.
“Their crews have worked alongside allies, Commonwealth partners and regional navies in some of the world’s most remote locations, consistently turning presence into influence and relationships into operational effect.
“Their achievement is a testament to their professionalism, resilience and adaptability – and to the enduring value of a Royal Navy that is forward, persistent and ready to act.”
Roll on the next five years then."
This article first appeared in the October 2026 edition of Navy News. Reproduced here with their kind permission.
