The United Kingdom’s essential subsea infrastructure is set to be reinforced as the first vessel of two planned undersea surveillance ships arrives in Birkenhead.

Upon becoming operational, this vessel will be dedicated to protecting seabed telecommunications cables and oil and gas pipelines.

The 98-meter-long adaptable offshore patrol vessel will serve as a ‘mother ship’ by operating remote and autonomous offboard systems for underwater surveillance and seabed warfare, which are crucial to national security.

According to a press release:

“Shortly after arriving at Cammell Laird, the ship will be repainted and have critical military equipment installed, before taking up its role as the first of two Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance (MROS) ships, operated by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) later this year.

The vessel will be formally handed over to control of the RFA in the next few days, several months ahead of schedule – following an acceleration of the acquisition announced by the Defence Secretary in November 2022.”

Defence Secretary, Ben Wallace, said:

“The first of two dedicated subsea surveillance ships will join the fleet this Summer, bolstering our capabilities and security against threats posed now and into the future. It is paramount at a time when we face Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, that we prioritise capabilities that will protect our critical national infrastructure.”

The vessel, currently the “Topaz Tangaroa”, will be renamed upon its integration into the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) fleet. It was selected to fulfil the requirements of the Royal Navy, having been constructed four years ago to support various underwater operations, including work on oil rigs, construction, maintenance and inspection, and autonomous submarine operations.

With a weight of 6,000 tonnes, the vessel is equipped with a helipad, crane, and ample working deck and boasts a “moon pool”, a large access point in the underside of the hull that enables the launch of submersible capabilities.

The vessel will be manned by approximately two dozen RFA sailors, while around 60 Royal Navy specialists will operate the undersea surveillance systems and other survey and warfare systems when embarked. The vessel is set to enter operational service during the summer of this year, and the programme for the acquisition of a second ship is currently in the concept phase.

George Allison
George Allison
George has a degree in Cyber Security from Glasgow Caledonian University and has a keen interest in naval and cyber security matters and has appeared on national radio and television to discuss current events. George is on Twitter at @geoallison
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81 COMMENTS

  1. Funny how things can move quickly when there’s a clear and urgent need to do so. Sir Humphrey must be spinning in his grave – where are the £billions on contract negotiations/r&d and the customary 26-month delay? Weird.

    • They haven’t painted it grey yet, only joking. I’m sure there is still a fair bit of conversion work to be completed.
      That crane looks huge in comparison to the rest of the ship, they must be using a serious amount of ballast to offset it when its not on the centre line.

    • I guess there were no long in the tooth judges, Lords and retired Military bods free of gardening duties or willing to taking a moment away from their brandy binges in Gentleman’s Clubs, available to take up the well paid Committee positions. Need a full quorum don’t cha know.

        • No rumours, but if it’s commissioned I think I’d go for HMS Suffolk, this time after the WW2 bomb disposal expert the Earl of Suffolk, sometimes called Mad Jack, and recipient of the George Cross. He attended the Royal Naval College in his youth so there’s a connection to the sea. Also the name HMS Suffolk hasn’t been used for a while.

          • I’m not too knowledgeable on pre 1980 RN vessels but yes, the name Suffolk has not been used in my time studying this subject.

            I’d not heard of him, thanks. Wonder if there’s an army centre at Didcot or Debden named in his honour or something? Just read about him on wiki, he deserves it, for saving the Heavy Water alone.

  3. A positive move and in addition a second vessels has been purchased from trade to support the MCM units with their ROV for the UK (hopefully the first of several that would be needed to support the new MCM systems the RN are getting and allow them to be deployed and supported). The Fleet grows again to better defend the UK.

  4. I know nothing about ships, but why is acquistion of the second ship going through a ‘concept phase’? Assuming the second ship is going to do the same job as the first, can someone enlighten me as to why they cannnot just get on and build it?

    I’ll just reiterate – I know nothing about ships!

      • Many thanks Nigel. Clear description of the process in NavyLookout. I now understand the need for further study of ‘concept’ for the second ship. Also good to see the Navy is going for COTS and fairly new ships. A quick refit with mil bells and whistles and she’s off to start work. Good stuff!

    • See Navylookout.com
      https://www.navylookout.com/uk-purchases-commercial-vessel-for-conversion-to-ocean-surveillance-ship/

      They have a really great write up about both classes of vessels and their intended roles. What is impressive is these 2 ships are potentially just the fledgling beginning of a much more exciting phase in sub sea defence. For decades hundreds of vessels like these have operated around the world. They have toughened highly sea worthy hulls, fuel efficient engines and low crew requirements. Their application into military affairs has been somewhat a mystery. Why haven’t we already done this? Probably because the drones and unmanned systems technology wasn’t mature enough. Now it is we can really leverage the technological advantage.

      • Hi Mr Bell, this ship does remind me o the old Diligence. Ex Bar Protector. Which the RN took up from the oil rig support lads. Navalised, and sent down the Falklands as a forward repair ship. I spent a while as NP 2010 on her, and her predessor, a Stena line rig support ship. Moon pool and all. Amazing microwave ship stationary nav system (1-2 meters). Yarmouth and O boat tied along either side, and we’d rotate 180 degrees.

        • Hi DH ,back in 87 was NP2010 on the Stenna Seaspread cushy draft, then the Dil came down we moved everything over Stenna left 3 days later the Stenna came back and we had too shift everything back to the Stenna and the Dilliegence turned round and left for the Gulf

          • Hi Tommo,crikey, that seems eons ago.twas cushy.. but remember having to fly back (18hrs)to UK to fit out Diligence at Leith,then all the way back.via Ascension / the Uganda..do you remember the tame crabfat busdriver ,from Mare hbr to the deathstar. for a Naffi/beer run.Poor guy took some shit.then got him pissed.Then the RIC trips down to S.Georgia. Changing the Guard,no band’s were hurt.😁
            Yeh, Diligence uptitted and I was left ashore to finish tour. Geeze,how long were they 6or9 months??🤪🤪

          • Morning Dave, my time on the Stenna meant someone at Drafties Desk was seeing how much money they could waste ,in four months( 120days ) the only major job we did was too Net over an SSN to camouflage it other than that it was1 trip to Stanley or Duty Minibus driver ,too take the Lads up MPA Gym othercthan that it was Groundhog Day and a Grat issue of F Island coin set When the DIL arrived we all thought at least she’s a Grey funnel line Boat with a Civvie crew as soon was we got settled in the signal came in that She was was required out the Gulf as mothership for the MCM boats and in 88 ended back on her at Jebal Ali at least the weather was better

          • Hi Tommo. Were you stokering or greenying? I was flightdecks n transport n qm’s duties (???)at sea.Neversaw me PO,_bar prop😉 Remember down sancarlos, opening the upper deck door,and looking straight down the intakes of a Phantom jet.(not for the first time)ffs, I’d just surfaced!Hell o a wake up call..🥴

          • Hi Dave part of the Great Green empire for my sins so the Stenna was ” can you fix my Bunk light ” and that sums up 120 days deployed with NP2010

  5. I dare say if it had gone through the normal process we would have taken 8 years to design and build a purpose designed ship which would be the absolute gold plated best ever.
    But there is an old saying “The best is the enemy of Good Enough”, we need a ship that is flexible, available and designed for deep ocean operations. Luckily for us the offshore energy industry has been building just such ships for years.
    This is a VARD 3 08 design and built to do everything we can think of and is more than “good enough”, I just wonder if the MOD are going after her sister ship Topaz Tiamat.
    I am not prone to being a doomsayer but I do wonder what they may find when they start operating. Our Russian “friends” have a long history of deep sea, covert ops and one has to wonder if they have been busy 🤔
    Which is a horrid thought but I suspect it may explain why this project is so blindingly quick.

  6. Impressive response to the threat posed to undersea cables but still must be a hell of a job to protect these links. The evil and wily Putin character will continue to pose a huge danger

  7. Good to see that the protection of our undersea cables is being taken seriously. This should be a good signal to Putin that he can’t do anything dodgy without us knowing.

  8. Beautiful ship. Just what we need. More of the same please Ben Wallace. We could really do with a few more of these vessels. I applaud our current defence minister he has got the MOD shit together and seems to be sorting stuff out at an impressive rate.
    Probably the best defence minister we have had in 30+ years.

    • Nothing like a major war on our continent and a major nuclear power being ruled over by a fascist psychopathic dictator hell bent on a legacy and place in history to focus the minds of governments onto defence matters.

      • Must say l was quite impressed with James Cleverly talking from Washington DC two days back. We have a excellent Defence secretary with the combination of good Foreign secretary. Both military men.

      • Or Spreadsheet Phil who wouldn’t know one end of a rifle from another.

        At Least BW has actually fired a rifle, at least at Basic Training, and knows what a tank roughly is or the importance of intel and command and control.

        But BW is actually getting stuff done and sensible mid cost things are being ordered regularly.

  9. Enthusiastic Amateur here:- is the proposed “protection” purely passive i.e. we detect and watch the enemy damage cables, or will it have an preventative “kill” option?

    • I’d guess if there is any offensive capability in ROVs it will carry then that is classified.

      A guess, the highest priority ones, like the one linking Fort Meade with Cheltenham and the one/s with financial services data all have anti tamper devices to warn of interference?

      • Hello Daniele I have raised the same point that John has mentioned in previous sessions as at the moment none of our ROV’s or UUVs have any offensive capability so presumably this new RFA will work in tandem with a vessel that can challenge the unit that is cutting pipe or cable on the sea bed or we are developing a UUV/ROV that has an offensive capability and is capable of being deployed from the same vessel. We have the capability to listen for suspicious activities from all of the buoy’s that us and the Americans have been laying all around our sensitive areas so presumably this new vessel will be directed directly to a suspect area so it would make sense to have the ability to confront the would be attacker.

      • Hi Daniele just thinking did a post sometime back how the USS Halibutte tapped into the Soviet Subsea comms cable for their Pacific fleet during the 50ts or 60ts it would seem that this is not a new form of espionage it’s as though we had forgotten how notionally important Subsea cables have become I know we do Route surveys yearly or we did ,but this seems too be a quick reflex tòo what happened to the Nord stream pipeline , Whitehall should have kept mum about this new venture as we did in the 70ts and 80ts with our inquisitive trawlers that used too venture up around the North Cape with Nets and Cameras

        • And “Ivy Bells” in the 80s.

          I wonder, with the increased submarine activity around GIUK, whether more is happening than is publicly acknowledged?

          We have been tapping cables for decades ourselves too, and some of the vulnerable spots are not undersea but inland at the CLS. I hope there is increased security at those too. I openly drove into one a few years ago in Cornwall that is supposed to be hush hush but is actually well known, as all of them are.

          Our infrastructure is vulnerable.

    • They will observe cables for tampering/foreign objects and will be able to remove enemy wiretaps/explosives. They wont be dogfighting enemy minisubs.

  10. With 2 MROS, MCM Mother-ships and 3 new FSS all expected to join the RFA over the next decade one wonders where they’ll find all the manpower to crew them all in addition to the Bay’s, Tide’s and Argus.

    I guess at the very minimum it means the Wave’s won’t be coming out of reserve any time soon!

    • Like all its down to the package they offer them, they need a better pay and conditions deal that will entice recruits to join up. The RN is not doing bad over all, 2 carriers fully crewed and soon that will ease when the first of them starts the cycle of one in one out and the T23’s being replaced by leaner manned Ships. All helps. The RFA are getting the crew I suspect as they will stay with the hull longer than an RN crew savings there too. Lets hope more follow for the MCM tasking.

    • Good point. I also had the same concern.

      I think Argus will be retired along with Fort Victoria to man the 3 SSS.

      Not sure from where RFA is going to find crews for MROSS (1) and MHC-OSV.

      • RFA Argus has many different roles that the SSS will not cover so she will continue on for many years yet, delivering what the Fleet needs. Newer ships will be leaner manned so not the need for the large numbers of the past to man them.

  14. A moon pool. Very useful and more hidden than launching stuff off the back.
    Always makes me think of The abyss movie.
    Where’s the Mk8 gun going and torpedo launchers 😂

  16. Reminds me of the old Stenna Seaspread rig support with Sat dive did 4 months NP 2010 twiddling my thumbs no weapons or eod cushy little draft alongside Mare harbour At least this new RFA will out continuing route surveying of all our critical substance cables just wondering whether the Navy still trains Clearence Divers in Sat diving or will it be ROVs all the way ?

  17. Just a point in looking at the Helicopter platform as to how exposed it is how does a helicopter land on such an extremely exposed platform in very high winds

    • It probably doesn’t. Sunny calm days only. A civilian ship like this would only be getting a helicopter visit for a medical emergency or some other important issue. Drop off and fly away.
      Was RFA diligence and protector fitted with the same position flight deck. I don’t think the ice ship protector uses the 2 special lynx like endurance did.

      • Yep, correct. 80ft flight deck above bridge 2 gpmg mounts, (marisat dome was not Chinnook friendly) and a vertrep deck aft.
        👌

  19. Given that the MV Island Crown or RFA “Whatever” will operate the new Automated MHC system and will probably be followed by 2 others to operate the stage 1 systems.
    Do anyone think this is a short term solution to get the concept up and running using the 3 Stage 1 systems on order ?
    OR.
    A long term option to replace the capability that was due to be part of the T32 class ?

    My opinion is that if we do trial the 3 systems on converted OSV’s and they work well, why bother building the capability into a Frigate !
    We have been told T32 is unfounded in its present form so why not buy more OSV for MHC and just tags 3 extra T31 onto the existing order.

    Any thoughts ?

    • Agreed.

      We need more escorts. We don’t need someone gold plating them, as some reports are suggesting. T31 Batch 2 and as many OTS commercial conversions as needed for the MCM task.

    • Well done to our Dutch neighbours. It must be the best ship for the job. Is there a list of what companies bid on the contract and then made a short list.

      • (Link) Looks like Cammell Laird was in the bidding as well. Although, I’m getting conflicting information on how the contract is awarded. But, as far as I am aware, Cammell Laird is only fitting the vessel, not building the hull. Someone needs to answer for this.

        • It’s a mess of news out there from the November ferry award. The mayor seems to be saying the contract was awarded to cammellaird and they are allowed to subcontract it to whoever they like.
          Other people are saying different things so some deep diving will be required to get the actual answer.

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