A helicopter from RFA Wave Knight has been flying fly dawn-to-dusk flights to assist the earthquake-hit country.

According to a Royal Navy news release:

“A helicopter from support ship RFA Wave Knight has been in the air since Friday, flying over parts of the Tiburon Peninsula – epicentre of the quake which struck on Saturday August 14 – to locate villages, towns, and infrastructure urgently in need of help. The information the aviators are gathering is helping direct the international aid effort, which Wave Knight has been supporting since Wednesday.

Crown Copyright 2021.

The support ship – which is flagship of the Royal Navy’s Caribbean task group, also including patrol vessel HMS Medway – has been providing fuel for US Army Black Hawk helicopters heavily engaged in the relief effort ashore in Haiti. Saving the helicopters from 228 Regiment the long flight back to their bases for refuelling, providing rest for crews and any mechanical repairs, the ship’s company have helped to ‘turbo charge’ the American effort.”

RFA Wave Knight is a Wave class tanker and part of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, the civilian support branch of the Royal Navy, providing logistical and operational support to military operations.

HMS Medway with RFA Wave Knight (background)

Additionally, following a request for international assistance from the Haitian Government, the UK will send a team of medical experts and a UK humanitarian expert is deploying from the UN to provide support.

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace said:

“Communities in the Caribbean can rely on the Royal Navy to come to their aid when disaster strikes. The Royal Navy has a proud history of supporting British Overseas Territories and other partners in the Caribbean during hurricane season.”

RFA Wave Knight

The Ministry of Defence say in a news release:

“Two British naval ships – RFA WAVE KNIGHT and HMS MEDWAY – are currently deployed to the Caribbean to provide humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. They have been deployed to the Caribbean since May 2021 to support British Overseas Territories and other partner nations the region throughout hurricane season. RFA WAVE KNIGHT arrived off the west coast of Haiti in the early hours of Wednesday (BST). It will allow US helicopters to refuel as they fly to and from the island, extending their range and time available to support the disaster relief efforts.”

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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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Ulya
Ulya
2 years ago

Things like this I don’t often see reported in my media and I don’t think the UK gets enough credit for doing this work. I wish Russia had the right ships and the will to do the same, maybe one day

Quentin D63
Quentin D63
2 years ago
Reply to  Ulya

Hi Ulya, this kind of humanitarian aid given or assistance given by the military of any country would make anyone be feel proud of their country and the better side of humanity in general. I hope Britain always keeps a strong RFA and OPV fleet as well as their main fleet.

Deep32
Deep32
2 years ago
Reply to  Ulya

Hi Ulya, this is one of the many humanitarian tasks that the UK AF do, and do very well. I agree that they do not receive enough credit, probably due in part to this sort of news always slipping under the radar when it comes to media reporting of such events.
It would certainly be good to see many other nations contributing in similar fashion, no matter what their politics are.

Daniel
Daniel
2 years ago
Reply to  Ulya

I’m not sure exactly of the organisational structure, but in recent memory I can think of Russian firefighting aircraft being deployed to assist in the Greek wildfires as well as the Russian Army medical personnel who were deployed to Italy during the worst point of the Covid-19 outbreak. I agree though that this sort of work is often underreported.

Ulya
Ulya
2 years ago
Reply to  Daniel

Hi Daniel, I had forgotten about planes going to help Greeks and that Italian thing was ok until the politics started, we all heard the things said about Russian help and I think145 million Russians gave Europe the middle finger. But even with that, I would like us to do more to help those that deserve, maybe something like a hospital ship or multi purpose ship base in Pacific fleet and Black sea fleet

John Clark
John Clark
2 years ago
Reply to  Ulya

It would be very nice to see a more positive Russia, genuinely helping on the world stage.

I remember RN personnel cross decking with Russian frigates ( and vise versa) in the mid 1990’s, seems like a dream now.

Relations between the west and east warmed so fast it was amazing to witness, it’s such a crying shame to see the Cold War resentment restart, with all its bitterness and mistrust.

The ‘peace’ was squandered and not built upon….

Frank62
Frank62
2 years ago

Great work Thanks to all involved.

Monkey spanker
Monkey spanker
2 years ago

Is this a uk helicopter? Wildcat or merlin? I can’t see the article actually stating what helicopter. I imagine a royal marine merlin would be best for this type of thing. But probably a wildcat if anything. I get the USA Blackhawks wave ruler is helping with landing and services. Haiti gets it so tight. They will hopefully get a break sometime

Monkey spanker
Monkey spanker
2 years ago
Reply to  Monkey spanker

Did a bit of digging it’s a wildcat, call sign knight rider lol. That’s right Micheal, ride on kit.