Press release -

All aboard! Two Moray councillors enjoy Royal Navy experience on five-hour voyage up the Moray Firth.

Moray’s association with the sea stretched back generations, and that link is being strengthened further with the naming of a new Royal Navy patrol vessel after the area.

Called HMS Spey, the ship is currently being built by Bae Systems at their shipyard on the Clyde, and will be the last of the new five Offshore Patrol Vessels. She will be formally named in early 2019 and be commissioned later that year.

As part of establishing a close affiliation with Moray through the ship, the patrol training vessel HMS Example took two Moray councillors on a short voyage from Peterhead to Lossiemouth on Friday.

Cllr Donald Gatt, Moray Council’s Armed Forces Champion, and Cllr John Cowe, embarked at 10am for the five-hour trip.

The affiliation between Moray Council and HMS Spey will pave the way for a personal link between the Royal Navy and the citizens of Moray. Once settled, other affiliations with an RAF squadron and Army regiment, and in Moray’s case a Speyside distillery are expected to take place.

At 90 metres long and weighing 2,000 tonnes, HMS Spey is expected to carry a 30mm cannon and a flight deck capable of receiving a Merlin helicopter, in support of counter-terrorism, anti-piracy, anti-smuggling and maritime defence operations.

Topics

  • Public sector

Regions

  • Scotland

Famous for its colony of dolphins, fabulous beaches and more malt whisky distilleries than any where else in Scotland, Moray is a thriving area and a great place to live. Nestling between Aberdeenshire and the Highlands, Moray stretches from Tomintoul in the south to the shores of the Moray Firth, from Keith in the east to Brodie Castle in the west.  

Contacts

Sharon Dunbar

Press contact Media and Communications Officer 01343 563046

Peter Jones

Press contact Communications manager Press, public communications, social media, events, FOI, campaigns, crisis comms. 01343 563601

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Related content

HMS Spey affiliation to strengthen ties between Moray and Royal Navy

MORAY Council will enter into a civil affiliation with the Royal Navy’s latest offshore patrol vessel, it was confirmed today.
Councillors unanimously agreed to accept the invitation from the Naval Regional Commander Scotland and Northern Ireland to form a civil affiliation with HMS Spey.
It comes as the Royal Navy’s presence in Moray is set to rise again, with the imminent arrival of the P8