Misplaced Pages

#601398

28-497: Each unit has an affiliated P2000 ship, which is used for training Officer Cadets when not on duty with the Coastal Forces Squadron . URNU ships are part of the Coastal Forces Squadron , or "CFS". CFS is commanded by Commander CFS, who previously was also Commander URNU, Commander Universities now being a separate post. The mission statement of CFS is to provide high-quality sea training experiences in support of

56-648: A Royal Naval Reserve Lieutenant as the unit's Senior Training Officer (STO) and a number of Training Officers (TOs), who vary between Royal Naval Reserve Acting Sub-Lieutenants , Sub-Lieutenants and Lieutenants. This format, with the exception of rank, roughly mirrors the training staff and format of BRNC. Some are being given the opportunity to attend AIBs and pass out of the reserve's Accelerated Officer Programme . Undergraduates usually join for 3 years, with options to extend this membership to 4 or 5 years, providing they can sufficiently convince their Commanding Officer that their continued membership would be of value to

84-526: A Royal Navy lieutenant commander is two half-inch gold braid stripes with one quarter-inch gold stripe running in between, placed upon a navy blue background. The top stripe has the ubiquitous loop used in all RN officer rank insignia, except for the rank of midshipman . The RAF follows this pattern with its equivalent rank of squadron leader . Throughout much of its existence, the British Royal Observer Corps (ROC) maintained

112-582: A P2000 is "PBR", denoting a "patrol boat - riverine and harbours" . Lieutenant commander (Royal Navy) Lieutenant commander (often abbreviated Lt Cdr ) is a senior officer rank in the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom . It is immediately junior to commander and immediately senior to the naval rank of lieutenant . The equivalent rank in the British Army and Royal Marines

140-501: A Royal Navy or Royal Marines Warrant Officer , as well as a Unit Administration Officer (UAO), who is a civilian and does not wear uniform. Each unit also has the capacity for up to eight training officers, who may be ex-Navy, former URNU students, or civilians with relevant experience, who are appointed as honorary Royal Naval Reserve officers, though they do not hold a commission or require an Admiralty Interview Board (AIB) pass. The training staff of an individual unit consists of

168-588: A leading role in programme planning and assist in the running of the unit. Training focuses on leadership, navigation and seamanship , and this is put into practice during sea weekends, and longer deployments during the summer and Easter vacations. Drill nights also often include lessons on wider navy knowledge, drill practice, and visits from serving personnel and affiliated units as well as practical leadership tasks and team building. Units also frequently undertake visits to affiliated units and local training establishments to experience military life first hand. There

196-462: A major. This distinction was abolished when the rank of lieutenant commander was introduced in March 1914, although promotion to that rank remained automatic following eight years seniority in the rank of lieutenant. Automatic promotion was stopped in 2000, with the introduction of Pay2000 – The Armed Forces Pay Model, with promotion thereafter awarded only on merit. The insignia worn by

224-538: A unit due to distance or any other issue. In late 2021, there was a nation-wide naming change of the URNUs. They were formerly styled '[Location] URNU' (e.g. Edinburgh URNU), being changed by the end of the year to 'URNU [Location]' (e.g. URNU Edinburgh). In January 2022, after striking an agreement with HMS Scotia , Tay Division, (the then) URNU Edinburgh opened a satellite division known now as URNU East Scotland, Tayside Division (often abbreviated to Tay Div), named for

252-590: Is major ; and in the Royal Air Force , it is squadron leader . Originally having fewer officer ranks than the Army, the Navy previously split some of its ranks by seniority (time in rank) to provide equivalence: hence a lieutenant with fewer than eight years seniority wore two stripes and ranked with an army captain; a lieutenant of eight years or more wore two stripes with a thinner one in between, and ranked with

280-423: Is also a significant and important social element to URNU life from formal mess dinners including the main naval formal event of the year, Trafalgar Night , to informal socialising in the unit's mess which contribute to unit integration and may be coordinated by a dedicated social secretary. Additionally, Scottish and Northern Irish URNUs hold an annual Burns night dinner. There are sporting activities held within

308-742: The Cyprus Squadron from 2003 to 2010, and URNU vessels before that, 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

SECTION 10

#1732802477602

336-604: The Firth of Tay which runs just south of Dundee , the city in which the division is based. It is based out of a Royal Marines Reserve base in the north of the city centre. Its foundation was a first for the URNU programme and has become the testbed for a potential scheme to extend the URNU footprint. The URNUs are part of the University Service Units , under the command of Commander Universities. They fall under

364-609: 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 Queen Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee . Unlike the remainder of the class, both these ships remain capable of mounting a 20 mm cannon on the fo'c'sle. The NATO designation of

392-537: The Gibraltar Squadron from 2020-2022. 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 of 54 tonnes (53 long tons ) displacement . After that company went into liquidation , the balance of the order was completed by Vosper Thornycroft . The Archer s were initially used as Royal Navy patrol craft and as training tenders for

420-675: 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 Example s 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

448-463: The United Kingdom 's Royal Navy , commonly referred to as a "fast training boat". Most are assigned to Coastal Forces Squadron . HMS  Tracker and HMS  Raider are armed and provide maritime force protection to high value shipping in the Firth of Clyde and are most commonly employed as escorts for submarines transiting to Faslane . Pursuer and Dasher were also armed during their deployment on maritime force protection duties with

476-614: The URNU mission and to deliver P2000 operational capability in support of other fleet tasking. The URNU programme was founded in 1967, with the formation of the Aberdeen Universities' Royal Naval Unit (now URNU East Scotland) in Aberdeen , Scotland , to encourage STEM undergraduates to join the Royal Navy from the University of Aberdeen and Robert Gordon University . This was followed 5 years later in 1972, with

504-487: The URNU units, informal contests between the units and an annual sports weekend in Portsmouth between all units. [REDACTED]    Royal Navy ( 1SL & CNS ) [REDACTED]    British Army ( CGS ) [REDACTED]    Royal Air Force ( CAS ) Archer-class patrol vessel The Archer class (or P2000 ) is a class of patrol and training vessel in service with

532-560: The exercise every year since, with the exception of 2022, due to increased tensions in the region following the re-escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War . Devon URNU was established in the autumn of 2017, catering to universities across the region. Devon was the first new unit formed since 1994. In 2021 there was a further expansion of the URNU, with new units in East Midlands, Belfast, Solent and Virtual. Solent URNU

560-430: The first syllable "Ex"). Until 2005, the four Example s were 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 HMS  Loyal Watcher and HMS  Loyal Chancellor as URNU training vessels for the two newest URNUs, serving Cambridge and Oxford Universities respectively ( Raider

588-589: The first women to hold command of a Royal Navy vessel, with their commands of Cardiff URNU (now URNU Wales) and Bristol URNU, as well as their attached P2000s, HMS Express and HMS Dasher respectively. In June 2017, OCs onboard HM Ships Archer , Smiter , Ranger and Exploit , deployed to the Baltic to take part in NATO 's BALTOPS exercise, the first time that Royal Navy P2000s have been involved in such an exercise. URNU Officer Cadets have been attending

SECTION 20

#1732802477602

616-463: The introduction of Glasgow & Strathclyde URNU (Now URNU Glasgow) and Liverpool URNU, which also served universities with a high number of STEM undergraduates. After being male-only units for their first 20 years, the URNUs finally allowed women to join their ranks in 1987, with the Aberdeen URNU being the first to do so. In 1999, (then) Lt Mel Robinson and (then) Lt Suzanne Moore became

644-570: The overall jurisdiction of the Commanding Officer of Britannia Royal Naval College , Dartmouth, Captain BRNC . Each URNU is commanded by its commanding officer (CO), usually a full-time Royal Navy Lieutenant , Lieutenant Commander or Royal Marines Captain . The remainder of its full-time staff consists of the unit Coxswain (Cox'n or Coxn), usually a full-time Chief Petty Officer , Royal Marines Colour Sergeant or, exceptionally,

672-678: The substansive rank of Midshipman the URNU OC must pass out of BRNC via the reserve or regular courses. Each URNU has a senior midshipman (SMid) and deputy senior midshipman (DSMid) (known as the Vice-President or 'VP' in URNU Glasgow due to their role as mess vice-president) supported by a committee, made up of various roles, which differ according to unit but will generally include a treasurer and sports and adventurous training officers alongside other roles. This committee will take

700-460: The unit, URNU students wear URNU tabs on their shoulders and are Acting Officer Cadets (A/OC). On completion of the first section of their task book, they receive a white officer cadet tab in addition to the URNU slide and are referred to as substantive Officer Cadets (OC). Once a certain number of points has been acquired, students will wear Midshipman rank slides in addition to URNU tabs and are referred to as Acting Midshipmen (A/Mid). To achieve

728-518: The unit. Members are list 7B reservists and therefore there is no call-up liability and members may leave at any time. Each URNU comprises 51 students, who usually join for the duration of their degree, with the option of taking a year out or leaving at any time. The URNU's also have attached cadets that are on Navy sponsorship/cadetship programs . URNU OCs work through training logs and receive training credits (formerly task books) with certain points thresholds corresponding to URNU ranks. Upon joining

756-405: Was a merging of Southampton URNU and Sussex URNU, the unit more to a brand new location in Portsmouth where it could be inside HMNB Portsmouth . East Midlands URNU and Belfast URNU were both new units to cover holes in the coverage of URNU units where there are also large numbers of potential students. Virtual URNU was also setup after a year and half of online URNU to cater to those unable to get to

784-523: 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 Coastal Forces Squadron Squadron (formerly the 1st Patrol Boat Squadron), each one formerly attached to an URNU (one per unit) under the command of a lieutenant . The remaining two vessels ( Pursuer and Dasher ), having formed

#601398