View source for HMS Exploit (P167)

{{Short description|Archer-class patrol vessel of the Royal Navy}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2014}}
{{Use British English|date=March 2014}}
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|Ship image=HMS_Exploit_-_Penarth_Marina_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1723352.jpg
|Ship caption=HMS ''Exploit'' 
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|Ship country=[[United Kingdom]]
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}}
|Ship name=HMS ''Exploit'' 
|Ship operator=[[Royal Navy]]
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|Ship builder=[[Vosper Thornycroft]]
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|Ship commissioned=1988
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|Ship identification=*{{MMSI Number|235009900}}
*[[Maritime call sign|Callsign]]: GABD
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*''Actis Inclitis'' - With Illustrious Deeds
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|Ship status= In active service
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|Ship class={{sclass|Archer|patrol vessel}}
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|Ship displacement=54 tonnes
|Ship length={{convert|20.8|m|ftin|abbr=on}}
|Ship beam={{convert|5.8|m|ftin|abbr=on}}
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*2 shafts, [[Rolls-Royce plc|Rolls-Royce]] M800T [[diesel engine|diesels]], 1,590&nbsp;bhp
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*{{convert|20|kn|km/h|abbr=on|lk=in}}
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*{{convert|550|nmi|km|-1|abbr=on}}
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*5 ship's company plus up to 1 training officer and 12 URNU students
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*[[Decca Radar|Decca]] 1216 navigation radar
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'''HMS ''Exploit''''' is an {{sclass|Archer|patrol vessel|0}} (or P2000) [[patrol boat|patrol]] vessel of the [[United Kingdom|British]] [[Royal Navy]], built in [[Woolston, Hampshire|Woolston]] by [[Vosper Thornycroft]] and commissioned in 1988.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/the-equipment/ships/patrol-and-mine-hunters/fast-patrol-boats |title=Patrol Boats – Archer class |website=Royal Navy |access-date=4 June 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.armedforces.co.uk/navy/listings/l0022.html |title=Archer Class P2000 (URNU) |website=Armed Forces.net |access-date=9 March 2019}}</ref> She is assigned to the Royal Navy Coastal Forces Squadron, carrying out a range of activities both in the U.K. and overseas.  

The ship's company consists of a permanent staff of the commanding officer, two senior rates and two junior rates, but can take up to twelve students with training officers usually embarked when conducting navigational training. Whilst at sea, students are able to put into practice navigation and seamanship skills they have learnt in the classroom during weekly training nights. These include chart planning, acting as Officer of the Watch, using the ship's radar and carrying out seamanship evolutions from anchoring to securing alongside. Instruction is given in engineering, firefighting, damage control and ship handling. The ship is based in HMNB Portsmouth.

==Operational history==

===Royal Naval Auxiliary Service===
XSV ''Exploit'' was originally ordered for the now defunct [[Royal Naval Auxiliary Service]] (RNXS) and had a distinctive black hull like other RNXS vessels.

On 19 March 1994, a serious machinery space fire occurred on ''Exploit'' approximately 30 miles off [[Lundy|Lundy island]] as she was being transferred to Portsmouth from [[Greenock]] as part of the managed run down of the service by RNXS crew. The [[Padstow lifeboat]] and the [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] SAR Helicopter from [[RM Chivenor|Chivenor]], were scrambled, and a [[Tanker (ship)|tanker]] on route to [[Milford Haven]] was diverted to help, but were not needed. The fire was later attributed to a major mechanical failure of the starboard main engine, resulting in a large hole in the [[Sump pump|sump]] casing. The fire spread quickly to the air ducts, igniting various rubber coolant pipes causing thick acrid smoke.<ref>{{Cite journal |title=The Volunteer |date=March 1994 |journal=The Volunteer (The Final Journal of the Royal Naval Auxiliary Service) |publisher=Holbrook printers |location=Portsmouth}}</ref>

===Royal Navy===
In June 2017, ''Exploit'', in company with HM Ships {{HMS|Smiter|P272|2}}, {{HMS|Ranger|P293|2}} and {{HMS|Archer|P264|2}}, deployed to the Baltic to take part in the [[NATO]] BALTOPS exercise, the first time that Royal Navy P2000s have been involved in such an exercise.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-latest-activity/news/2017/june/30/170630-1st-patrol-boat-squadron-baltops-endeavour |title=1st Patrol Boat Squadron's Baltops endeavour |date=30 June 2017 |website=Royal Navy |access-date=9 March 2019}}</ref>

In the early 2020s, ''Exploit'', along with other ''Archer''-class vessels, was given a more operational role as part of the reconstituted [[Coastal Forces of the Royal Navy|Coastal Forces Squadron]]. In early 2024, ''Exploit'' and three of her sister ships deployed to northern Norway as part of the NATO exercise "Steadfast Defender".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.forces.net/services/navy/royal-navys-smallest-ships-take-huge-challenge-they-brave-weeks-rough-seas |title=Royal Navy's smallest ships take on huge challenge as they brave weeks of rough seas |date=5 February 2024|website=ForcesNet}}</ref>

==Affiliations==
* {{HMS|Daring|D32|6}} 
* {{HMS|Ambush|S120|6}}
* TS ''Blackcap'' - [[Birkenhead]] Sea Cadets
* TS ''Minerva'' -  [[Rhondda]] Sea Cadets
* TS ''Sutton Coldfield'' - [[Sutton Coldfield]] Sea Cadets
* [[Hereford Cathedral School]] [[Combined Cadet Force|CCF]]
* The [[University of Birmingham]]
* [[845 Naval Air Squadron]]
* The town of [[Berkeley, Gloucestershire|Berkeley]]
* Brownhills [[Girlguiding UK|Girl Guides]], [[Walsall]]

==Notes==
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==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|HMS Exploit (P167)}}
*{{cite web |url=http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/our-organisation/the-fighting-arms/surface-fleet/patrol/archer-class/hms-exploit |title=HMS ''Exploit'' |website=Royal Navy}}
*{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=206XMbm_U6g  |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/206XMbm_U6g |archive-date=2021-12-13 |url-status=live|title=Video - HMS ''Exploit'' - Docking with style |date=15 November 2011 |website=YouTube}}{{cbignore}}

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{{Archer class patrol vessel}}
{{Royal Navy ships}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Exploit}}
[[Category:Archer-class patrol vessels]]

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