SD Victoria entered Holyhead harbour in Anglesey, north Wales, on Sunday however right this moment it was again cruising the Irish Sea. SD Victoria is operated by Hampshire-based Serco Marine Providers as a coaching and help vessel for the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. It has lengthy been linked to the Particular Boat Service (SBS) and has been photographed carrying inflatable raiding craft (IRC) in addition to SBS “stealth boats”.
The ship is at present the second largest ship in Serco’s 100-vessel fleet.
The corporate declined to clarify what it was doing off Anglesey. “We are able to’t touch upon operational particulars,” mentioned a spokesperson.
Nevertheless there may be hypothesis it’s concerned with Train Chameleon, a bi-annual particular power coaching operation. The Ministry of Defence has confirmed it’s working 24-hour flying missions throughout a lot of the UK as a part of Chameleon, together with within the skies above Gwynedd, Powys and “Clwyd”.
The round the clock coaching train ends on September 16, NorthWalesLive studies. It’s mentioned to incorporate the usage of Hercules plane to drop objects and provides to ships.
Boat watchers have noticed SD Victoria off Anglesey’s north west coast on a number of events in current weeks.
One individual acquired a grandstand view of military-style actions as she walked alongside the coast. “We watched one in all their ribs being winched on board (the SD Victoria),” she mentioned. “Personnel all wore combats and stab vests.
“Little grandson was fascinated. There was a cruise ship simply offshore and we thought they’d one thing to do with that.”
The 83-metre SD Victoria was in-built Romania as a platform for particular forces operations. She is supplied with school rooms, briefing and operations rooms and a helicopter winching deck.
With a high pace of 16 knots, the vessel can accommodate 88 crew and keep at sea for 46 days.
She will carry inflexible inflatable boats and has been seen with a pair of SBS stealth boats that are mentioned to be able to 60 knots.
