Britannia Royal Naval College receives new training boats

The new modern vessels mimic warships that the future officers will encounter when they join the front-line

A naval college has received eight new state-of-the-art training boats.

The Britannia Royal Naval College in Dartmouth, Devon, retired its predecessors, a flotilla of eight 'picket' boats which dated back to the 1960s, at the end of 2021.

The new modern vessels mimic warships that the future officers will encounter when they join the front-line.

The boats are part of the navy's wider programme, Project Vahana, which aims to modernise training.

Warrant Officer class 1 Dan Powditch described the new vessels as "a completely different beast" from its predecessors

Warrant Officer class 1 Dan Powditch said the new vessels would create "more experienced, more capable mariners".

He said: "With the development of the modern kits we've got, they do replicate a command platform, so you have all the communication systems, all the navigation systems.

"The way we man and train on them is like running an actual warship, so they are mini warships when we're delivering our seamanship training and they are a completely different beast to the picket boats.

"They bring in the modern day navy to the forefront."

Officer Cadet Shane Abrew says the new boats allow training activities to be taught such as the man overboard exercise

Officer Cadet Shane Abrew said: "The types of activities we've been conducting over the past few days are things like man overboard exercises and fire and flood drills.

"We have also been conducting night navigation exercises to allow us to be safe on the water at night time, a coxswain driving the ship itself in a safe manner and understanding rules and how we apply them in a real time scenario."

Each boat can hold up to 16 cadets at a time and provide basic accommodation such as bunk beds, a shower and a boiler.