A private maritime company has announced it has signed an agreement to acquire the Royal Fleet Auxiliary’s two Wave Class fast fleet tankers, Wave Knight and Wave Ruler, with plans to return the vessels to operational service in support of allied navies.
Inocea Group said the two ships, described as “sovereign logistics platforms”, have been maintained in extended readiness and remain “preserved in class” and in “excellent technical condition”.
The company said it intends to reactivate both vessels to full operational readiness under class and flag-state requirements, after which they would be operated by Inocea companies to support allied naval forces.
In a statement, the firm said the vessels were designed for high-tempo fleet operations and combine speed, endurance, aviation facilities and full replenishment-at-sea capability, adding that they were built to full naval standards and remain capable platforms.
Inocea also claimed that following reactivation both ships could provide frontline service for at least 20 years, stating that their structure and original design standards were intended for sustained global deployment.
The Wave Class tankers previously supported a range of Royal Navy and NATO operations, including deployments in the Arabian Gulf under Operation KIPION and support to NATO task groups during Operation UNIFIED PROTECTOR off Libya, as well as counter-piracy and humanitarian relief missions.
Inocea cited its prior experience operating Combat Support Ship Asterix, which it said has supported NATO and allied forces since 2018.
The company described itself as a British international marine and defence technology group with shipyard facilities across the United States, Finland and Canada.
Well that’s different, and a far better option than either scrapping them or selling for peanuts to a South American navy. Fact is we can’t crew them so why not sell them to a commercial company that will provide us and other allies with additional support. I wonder if someone has been having a look at the US companies Omega and Metrea who use ex USAF Tankers to provide Air to Air refuelling for US and NATO forces.
The only down side is what happens if some bright spark at the Treasury decides to privatise the RFA ?
“Fact is we can’t crew them”
Well we could if we directed any portion of the defence budget to restoring RFA pay to competitive levels. Fixing the RFA isn’t hard, nor would take too long either.
In a world where government cared about defence we would have retained these ships, crewed them and used them as West Indies guard ships, rotating them between this role and as tankers for NATO support. In the background we would have ordered two Tides from H&W as replacements and follow on work after the FSS ships were complete.
We are not a serious nation if operating 6 fleet tankers is deemed too difficult.
I mean, could we have kept them? Under current plans we want 7 support ships, these would make 9, thats like double most euro navies.
Seems like a great solution, if we sign up with this company then we can use them as well. The AAR tankers also seem like a good solution, not all refuelling is done in combat areas. Using private companies to supplement our fleet makes sense.
A shame, nice ships. Double hull, fast, versatile, good self defence, full size hanger … deserved a long and active career in RFA service supporting the QEC, while the Tide’s did the more more mundane taskings. Inocea Group probably picked up a bargain, wouldn’t be supposed to soon hear they have been sold on.
Sorry what lol, why should the Tides do mundane taskings? The Tides are built specifically to support the carriers, can do double refueling with them, unlike the Waves.
Was not expecting this at all😯
But what makes me laugh is this >
“Inocea Group said the two ships, described as “sovereign logistics platforms”, have been maintained in extended readiness and remain “preserved in class” and in “excellent technical condition”.
And be in service for another 20 years….
In that case, why the bloody hell would we want to get rid of them🤯
Exactly my thoughts – yet again a blo*dy disgrace 🇬🇧👎. A better fate than the Rovers however although in a very different class.
I think thats an exaggeration, theyll need alot of work, and we cant staff them.
Err because we bought the Tides to replace them…
Arguably no, the Tides replaced other classes of Tankers, the Waves were slated to serve to the early 30s.
Hi Spock.
The 4 Tides replaced the 5 Rovers, 4 Leafs, and Ol’s before those.
The 2 Waves were newer vessels not referenced regards the building of the Tides, and were used for other non carrier group taskings.
That’s typical HMG moving the goalposts to justify a cut.
Because we have four other massive more capable tankers.
We have more tankers than surface ships at sea
there was a suggestion on NL that the Navy wanted to concentrate on the Tide class, because the Waves were a single screw design and lack movability. Again we did have issues like find a crew for them
Plenty of seamen around the commonwealth! That would Probably be classed as slavery though.🙄
They can probably earn a good profit providing tanker replenishment services to the USN which is chronically short of its own tankers at the moment.
(Would like to see as a condition of the sale that their services cannot be offered to either the Russian and Chinese navies.)
Speaking of the US, Trump posted this today:
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump · February 18, 2026, 1:42 PM
I have been telling Prime Minister Keir Starmer, of the United Kingdom, that Leases are no good when it comes to Countries, and that he is making a big mistake by entering a 100 Year Lease with whoever it is that is “claiming” Right, Title, and Interest to Diego Garcia, strategically located in the Indian Ocean.
Our relationship with the United Kingdom is a strong and powerful one, and it has been for many years, but Prime Minister Starmer is losing control of this important Island by claims of entities never known of before. In our opinion, they are fictitious in nature.
Should Iran decide not to make a Deal, it may be necessary for the United States to use Diego Garcia, and the Airfield located in Fairford, in order to eradicate a potential attack by a highly unstable and dangerous Regime — An attack that would potentially be made on the United Kingdom, as well as other friendly Countries.
Prime Minister Starmer should not lose control, for any reason, of Diego Garcia, by entering a tenuous, at best, 100 Year Lease. This land should not be taken away from the U.K. and, if it is allowed to be, it will be a blight on our Great Ally. We will always be ready, willing, and able to fight for the U.K., but they have to remain strong in the face of Wokeism, and other problems put before them.
DO NOT GIVE AWAY DIEGO GARCIA!
The same day the US government welcomed the deal, the guy has lost it.
This man has access to 1500 deployed nuclear weapons and the only people who can check his power are a bunch of misfit ass kissing weirdos (The US Cabinet)
That is scary.
Ok in this case I could consider a “ War clause in the sale” flagged in the UK and if the UK needs the capacity it gets first dibs… that’s actually a pretty good use of resources.. the Uk no longer pays for these ships to sit and be maintained, gets a payment, but also they are running as a western asset available to NATO and if the UK needs extra capability available for the UK.. would be a win win really.