English: HMS Forth leads a class of five state-of-the-art warships which will act as the RN's eyes and ears around the UK, help to safeguard fishing stocks, reassure and protect Falkland Islanders and deploy to the Mediterranean and Caribbean if necessary.

They are designed for a crew of just under 60 but need only 38 crew at any one time to go to sea.

Although classed as a Batch 2 River-class offshore patrol vessel, Forth and her sisters - Trent, Medway, Medway and Spey - are a big leap forward from Tyne, Severn, Mersey and Clyde, which were designed and built 15 years ago.

They're four knots faster, carry a 30mm, not 20mm main gun, two Miniguns, four machine-guns, two Pacific 24 sea boats. Each ship is equipped with a flight deck (only Clyde of the first generation craft can host a helicopter) and there's accommodation for up to 50 troops/Royal Marines to support operations ashore if needed.

Forth, which is affiliated to the historic city of Stirling, also borrows many of the first batch's features - which were revolutionary in RN ships at the time: fixed fire-fighting systems across much of the ship, a computer-controlled machinery monitoring system.

The bridge is far more Type 45 (spacious, computerised with interchangeable displays, communications kit) than a rather cramped Type 23 frigate.

• Organization: Royal Navy
• Object Name: NE180016064
• Category: MOD
• Supplemental Categories: Faslane, Naval Bases, Locations, Patrol Vessels, Ships, Equipment
• Keywords: HMS Forth, River Clyde, Fisheries Protection, Hogan, Scotland, Faslane, HMNB Clyde
• Country: UK