Saturday 3 April 2010

Archer & Smiter

HMS Smiter (right) and HMS Archer passed CalMac's Clansman in the Sound of Mull at lunchtime today. The navy ships are fast patrol boats, but both of these have been assigned to university training, with Smiter based at the Neptune naval base in the Clyde and Archer in Aberdeen.

Archer, P264, and Smiter, P272 were part of the first batch of Archer Class patrol boats, built in 1985 and displacing 54 tonnes; they're 20m long and capable of 20 knots. We spotted Smiter first, obviously killing time in the mouth of Loch Sunart, but flying a large white ensign at her masthead. When Archer came up the Sound to join her she too was flying a large flag; it was difficult to distinguish but it may have been the Scottish lion rampant. Shortly after they met, they hauled the flags down.

Meanwhile, on shore, quietly, spring continues with the appearance of the first violets, tucked against a dolerite outcrop on the hillside above Ormsaigbeg.

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