For sale: Ex-Royal Navy high-speed patrol boat, pre-loved, machine guns not included, offers over £134,995

A former Royal Navy high-speed patrol boat is up for sale on the online auction site eBay.

Built in 1992, HMS Sabre has spent almost 30 years in service and was decommissioned during a ceremony at Portsmouth Naval Base in April 2022.

With offers starting at £134,995, the public has a rare opportunity to buy an ex-Royal Navy vehicle.

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A Royal Navy spokesperson said that HMS Sabre, along with HMS Scimitar, was sold to Ramco, a used goods reselling company, last year. 

"It would be inappropriate for us to comment further," the Royal Navy spokesperson said. 

Ramco is within its rights to sell the ex-Royal Navy vessel, as it has been decommissioned and was unclassified when sold.

The Royal Navy said it could not confirm whether the boat being sold was the former Navy patrol vessel.

Without physically inspecting items for sale, auction site sale items cannot be verified as legitimate.

The eBay listing said: "The vehicle is ex-Royal Navy and has been well looked after whilst in service. It has general usage marks and wear and tear but has been serviced and cleaned prior to being made available to purchase."

The vessel is 16m long and almost five metres wide and has a maximum continuous speed of 30 knots, which is around 34mph.

Sabre runs on diesel and has a fuel capacity of more than 200 gallons.

She is a Scimitar Class Patrol Boat, and safeguarded Gibraltar for nearly 20 years, alongside HMS Scimitar.

HMS Scimitar and HMS Sabre were briefly replaced by HMS Pursuer and HMS Dasher, before it was announced in 2020 that HMS Cutlass and HMS Dagger, dubbed "guardians of the Rock" by the Navy, would be the permanent replacements.

The Scimitar Class patrol boats have the unique ability to be able to operate in ports and confined waterways that are not as easily accessible for other warships.

While in service with the Royal Navy, Sabre was armed with two General Purpose Machine Guns to provide for self-defence and force protection of other maritime units – unsurprisingly the machine guns are not included in the sale.

The successful bidder is invited to arrange pickup of HMS Sabre from Southampton, where she is currently moored.