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The ''Archer'' class (or P2000) is a class of patrol and training vessel in service with the United Kingdom's Royal Navy, commonly referred to as a ''Fast Training Boat''. Most are assigned to University Royal Naval Units, although HMS ''Tracker'' and HMS ''Raider'' are armed and provide maritime force protection to high value shipping in the Firth of Clyde although are most commonly employed as escorts for submarines transiting to Faslane. ==Development== Ten vessels were ordered as the P2000 class, based on a design of an Omani coastguard cutter, from Watercraft Marine. They are twin-shaft vessels with moulded glass-reinforced plastic hulls. After that company went into liquidation, the balance of the order was completed by Vosper Thornycroft. The ''Archers'' were initially used as Royal Navy patrol craft and as training tenders for the Royal Naval Reserve (RNR) and University Royal Naval Units (URNU). Four identical vessels were ordered for the Royal Naval Auxiliary Service (RNXS) as ''Example''-class tenders. When that service was disbanded in 1994, the ''Examples'' were transferred to the Royal Navy for similar duties as their ''Archer''-class brethren (under the same names under which they served as "XSVs", all of which begin with the first syllable "Ex"). Until 2005, the four ''Examples'' were still painted with a black hull. In 1998 two additional vessels (''Raider'' and ''Tracker'') of this design were commissioned into the Royal Navy from Ailsa Shipbuilding Company, to replace ''Loyal Watcher'' and ''Loyal Chancellor'' as URNU training vessels for the two newest URNUs, serving Cambridge and Oxford Universities respectively (''Raider'' was later transferred to Bristol URNU whilst ''Trumpeter'' became the ship of Cambridge URNU). This brought the total of ''Archer'' class vessels in the Royal Navy to sixteen, of which fourteen form the 1st Patrol Boat Squadron (formerly the Inshore Training Squadron), each one attached to an URNU (one per unit) under the command of a Lieutenant. The remaining two vessels (''Pursuer'' and ''Dasher''), having formed the Cyprus Squadron from 2003 to 2010, and URNU vessels before that,〔''Pursuer'' was allocated to Sussex URNU, ''Dasher'' to Bristol URNU. They were replaced by ''Ranger'' and ''Trumpeter'' respectively in 2004〕 returned to the UK in April 2010 to form the Faslane Patrol Boat Squadron, performing security duties within HMNB Clyde. In 2012 ''Dasher'' and ''Pursuer'' were replaced by ''Raider'' and ''Tracker'' - these can be identified by a number of pintle-mounted L7 7.62 mm GPMG machine guns and armour plating. ''Ranger'' and ''Trumpeter'' were also formerly allocated to the Gibraltar Squadron for guard ship and search and rescue duties, but were replaced by the dedicated ''Scimitar'' class. These two ships were also used during the Thames River Pageant, escorting the Royal Barge during the Queens Diamond Jubilee. Unlike the remainder of the class, both these ships remain capable of being mounted with a 20 mm cannon on the fo'c'sle. The NATO designation of a P2000 is "PBR", denoting a "Patrol Boat - Riverine and Harbours". 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Archer-class patrol vessel」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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