Clyde joins the Royal Navy.

In a ceremony at Portsmouth Naval Base in January 2007 the HMS Clyde joined the seagoing ranks as the Royal Navy's latest River class offshore patrol vessel. The 80-metre-long vessel was the first to be built in Portsmouth for nearly 40 years and she is now undergoing a few months of familiarisation and training before officially being commissioned into the fleet. The HMS Clyde was built by VT Shipbuilding (who retains ownership), and will be chartered to the Ministry of Defence for an initial five-year period. VT Naval Support will provide a full logistics support package that guarantees the vessel's availability for 282 days each year. In an unrelated event VT Shipbuilding has begun production of the Royal Navy's sixth Type 45 anti-air warfare destroyer, the HMS Duncan. The 7500-tonne ship's mast, funnel and box section will be built by VT Shipbuilding, who has been contracted to build all six aforementioned sections.