Two offshore patrol vessels for Trinidad and Tobago's Coast Guard were formally named in November 2009. First of the class, Port of Spain, pictured here, is being built at BAE's Portsmouth yard while sister Scarborough, launched on 19 November, is being built at Scotstoun on the Clyde, as is a third unit of the class, Santa Fe. Ordered in 2007 for £150 million, the three patrol vessels are to be crewed by roughly 60 personnel and will have a top speed of more than 25 knots. Measuring 90.5 meters overall, the new class will be able to travel 5,500 nautical miles at 12 knots with an endurance of 35 days. All three vessels are planned to be delivered during 2010. They can be expected to play a major role in management of the exclusive economic zone as well as maritime law enforcement and even special operations missions.
Malaysia received its first Scorpène-class submarine last September, but sea trials have apparently uncovered some unspecified teething problems that are preventing the boat from diving safely. Named Tunku Adbul Rahman, the first of Malaysia's new submarines is one of two that were ordered in 2002 and built in a cooperative effort between France's DCN shipyard in Cherbourg and Spain's Navantia shipyard in Cartagena. Though the specific cause of the diving-related problem has yet to be made public, it is reportedly due to a manufacturing defect and is to be corrected by the appropriate shipyard. Media reports indicate that this has not been the first problem experienced with the Tunku Adbul Rahman, as a cooling-system correction was required in December 2009. Delivery of Malaysia's second Scorpène-class submarine, Tun Razak, was to have taken place in late 2009, but the handover has now been delayed until mid-2010. Malaysia has high hopes for its fledgling submarine fleet and aims to have a force of 425 personnel ready to man its new boats.
This past winter the Royal Navy retired the veteran warship HMS Nottingham from service. Officially decommissioned on 11 February 2010, the British Sheffield-class (Type 42A) guided-missile destroyer was built by Vosper Thornycroft, Southampton, and entered service in August 1983. Displacing some 4,250 tons (full load), the warship was armed with the British Sea Dart surface-to-air missile system, and along with her sister ships, helped form the core element of the Royal Navy's air-defense surface fleet for more than two decades. A number of her sisters already have been retired, including Exeter and Southampton, which were decommissioned in 2009. Additional units of the class will continue to retire as newer and more capable Daring-class (Type 45) destroyers join the fleet. Last year, Pakistan expressed interest in purchasing as many as three of the retiring destroyers.