A phenomenal mission: Royal Navy warships celebrate five-year milestone in Indo-Pacific

Two Royal Navy warships have celebrated five years of deployment during a landmark mission to the Indo-Pacific. 

One thousand eight hundred and twenty-six days have passed since sister patrol ships HMS Spey and HMS Tamar left Portsmouth.

The ships, crewed by roughly 50 sailors, have renewed the UK's presence across the region as the first British warships serving around the clock in this part of the world since the handover of Hong Kong in 1997.

• How the Navy's Black Sea standoff became a wargame over Russian disinformation
• Fond farewell for HMS Queen Elizabeth as she lands key Nato role for first time
• It's back to work for HMS Dauntless as she braves the grim weather and sets sail

The anniversary comes as HMS Tamar joined a major US Navy humanitarian deployment called Pacific Partnership in Malaysia, after having spent a week forging ties with the Cambodian navy.

"Even though my ship has been on station in the Indo-Pacific for five years, we're still forging new ground, such as our recent visit to Cambodia, which was the first time a British warship entered their newly constructed naval base," said Commander Tom Lindsey, HMS Tamar's Commanding Officer.

Disaster relief, freedom of navigation and naval exercises 

The mission of the two ships, Operation Highwall, is wide-ranging, encompassing everything from major international naval exercises to providing disaster relief and humanitarian aid, and helping regional navies and authorities police their waters to prevent smuggling. 

They have helped to enforce UN sanctions imposed on North Korea by patrolling and conducted freedom of navigation missions in disputed waters, exercising their rights under UN law to sail through international waters. 

The pair were also the Royal Navy's first vessels to visit Cambodia in over 50 years. 

On paper, the ships' patrol area extends from the east coast of Africa to the west coast of the United States 

However, more typically, they are found in Southeast Asia and Australasia and the western Pacific Rim, with each vessel operating independently.

HMS Spey, which has participated in 14 international military exercises since leaving Portsmouth, was pressed into action as she delivered aid to Tonga following a massive underwater volcanic eruption in early 2022. 

HMS Spey's Commanding Officer Dan Briscoe said everyone involved in the mission should feel proud. 

"We've maintained a persistent presence over 8,000 nautical miles from the UK, with long logistical supply chains, delivering on operations, over 300 days at sea every year," he said. 

"We have flown the Royal Navy and UK flag in a hugely important geopolitical region with very little other consistent UK footprint."

The numbers behind HMS Spey and Tamar's deployments 

HMS Spey has spent 15,259 hours at sea, equating to 636 days, sailing 161,133 nautical miles in the process. 

Meanwhile, her younger sister, HMS Tamar, has managed 159,000 nautical miles and 15,000 hours at sea. 

Overall, the duo has sailed close to 15 times around the world in the last half-decade. 

Fleet Commander Vice Admiral Steve Moorhouse said that sustaining the pair so far from the UK was a "phenomenal achievement".

HMS Spey has visited more than 100 locations, some of the more remote ones including Tahiti, Vanuatu, Timor-Leste, New Caledonia and the Pitcairn, Solomon and Andaman island chains.