The DE&S Boats Team, part of the Ministry of Defence, has published a contract tender outlining a requirement for the Training Vessel (TV) Sir Tristram to undergo a number of improvements to a specified set of requirements to extend its life to 2026.
According to the notice, an 8-week window has been identified between December 2022 and February 2023 in which work shall be undertaken.
“Tristram is now a training vessel used predominantly to simulate real life scenarios at sea, say the Ministry of Defence. The vessel is moored in Portland Harbour, Dorset.”
According to the contract notice, the scope of the £700,000 improvements is expected to include but will not be limited to;
• CCTV at entry ways on Port and Starboard. At least 2 CCTV cameras
• LED lighting with dimmer and adjustable light colour to green and red
• New Porta Cabin that includes small kitchen
• Refit of toilets facilities (male and female)
• Replacement of all access platforms and stairs
• Re-preservation/refurbishment of deck, fittings and other structures
Why Sir Tristram?
According to A&P Group, the firm that last worked on the ship, in 2006 it was decided to regenerate the ex-RFA Sir Tristram for a new role as a special forces training platform to replace the aged Rame Head and relocate the facility from Portsmouth Harbour to Portland in Dorset under a project name of Project Newman.
Sir Tristram was replaced by the introduction of the new Bay Class and was retired from RFA service in 2006.
The A&P project work awarded following a major UK based competition included :
- Accommodation strip out including asbestos removal
- CCTV Installation for range safety reasons
- Sanitisation of Ship Systems
- Installation of new Power Supplies
- Installation of Class Rooms and Viewing Galleries
- Ballistic Protection
- Ensure Watertight Integrity for a static role
- Long life anti fouling systems to obviate necessity for docking over a 15 year period
- Upgrade of Ventilation System for smoke and fume extraction
You can read more on the history of the ship, including its service in the Falklands War, by clicking here.
Is she permanently alongside in Portland?
No she is moored in the harbour a few hundred yards from Monkey Pier.
No. at anchor in the harbour
If you can claim to utilise specific research tools to find out what is happening in Ukraine, down to BCT/sub unit level, pretty much on every front, I’m sure you can see if she is alongside at Portland! So the lesson for today is do stop trying to put in “reasoned”, none Russian supporting posts, to give the impression you are reasonable and impartial, prior to going on an anti Ukraine RT supported rant about Ukraine! Anyway on the lighter side of the news I see one of your murderers is being tried for war crimes! 21, Sgt, tank commander… Read more »
He might have been asking on behalf of his comrades in the Russian navy who are running out of vessels…..!!
It is cutting edge to the Russians.
Probably not rusty enough for them?
And she survived Bluff Cove , sitting ducks ,not like nanciing around a vastly bigger stretch of The Black Sea and still getting hit and sunk RFA better trained that saved her unlike the Russian version of the muppetskis
Hi Tommo. Mate, were you in the service during the Falklands campaign? Keen to hear any stories you had if so.
Hi klonkie ,yes OP Corporate, Navy our job was just too ensure nothing Sub surface got through to the Carriers and STURFT was on the Bristol Only story was seadarts away at a plane that’s was probably carrying NUNS to the Vatican they missed , oh we also had an Argon Laser fitted all hush hush at the time 5 maths of tinned processed meat and powdered milk
Excellent Tommo – liking the Nun story. The fog of war perhaps? All the best Mate.
Cheers kronkie just hope they got too meet the Pope unscathed
😀
i’ve a picture of the ships hulk in stanley after the bombing of it.i was amazed it was still afloat
😂😂😂!
Ye Gods you are a case. I asked a perfectly reasonable question and received two positive responses, for which thanks. Then you appear with your normal rant attacking me and bringing Ukraine into this thread, which has nothing to do with it, so I won’t respond.
You might care to note that although she is indeed alongside in the photo and your comment, that is not her normal location which is moored in the harbour.
Have you condemned Putins invasion yet?
Troll not liking being trolled methinks! Any condemnation of Putins illegal invasion of Ukraine yet? And I refer you back to my original post, a rather simple ruse you use on occasion to appear impartial, yet we all know you are not don’t we! And, I do presume you fully support the ongoing war crimes trials against the accused Russians, (who are in Ukraine illegally)? Try and answer a simple question for the first time since you started posting!
Well, in fairness, you’ve been asked on many times perfectly reasonable questions that you always seem to avoid answering.
Now used by UKSF for Maritime Counter Terrorism training
An Osprey, at ex RNAS Osprey
Here is what she looked like just under 40 years ago after she was berthed up in Stanley Harbour next to the Public jetty, she was used as accommodation for 3 sqn Royal Engineers before getting a lift back to the Uk:
https://i.postimg.cc/X7sKKM0T/tris.jpg
OMG – quite the mess.
Nobody would try and say that was serviceable these days.
Well except for the Russians who would say it was part of their wonder weapon boxed set: the one Santa promised Vlad would be delivers for Christmas 2019 and is lost on the back of the sled?
The Russians would just slather her in enough paint to cover the rust and call it an upgrade. 😀
She was a right mess when we pulled into Stanley, and we thought we were rusty there was a terrible smell of that IZAL dissenfecant hanging in the Air if I smell it now takes me right back
Yeah but after what she’d been through it was understandable. She wasn’t a spring chicken at the start of the war. Every time I look at Farouk’s picture I think of Bluff Cove and what a balls up it was. I don’t blame the Welsh Guards for it they had no idea how serious the air threat was and apart from cross channel ferries they’d never even been on a ship never mind one in a war zone. I don’t even blame the Argies it was a war and they were doing their job. I don’t know if you’ve read… Read more »
Thanks dave some years back there was a programme on the Falklands and They interviewd a Royal marines landing officer who pleaded with some Army major too get the troops off before the sun came up as there were Argie spotters who’d witnessed both ships coming in to the Cove, .He was kindly told too hold his tongue and the rest is history unfortunately
Yep back then there were plenty of Army types happy to tell the Andrew and Royal how to do their jobs. Thank god that doesn’t happen nowadays. 😐😐
That Royal should of decked him after the event shame that he held his tongue for the programme and didn’t name him for all the public too know why their sons didn’t come home the Royal had manner upfitting of a Marine officer
She has aged like wine, better now than then.
Are they your own photos farouk?
Daniele wrote:
Yes, a very young Sapper was sent down south after completing his CSB course and after working on the runway(building roads, culvets Rubb shelters and repairing the AM2 matting) I was detatched from the troop and worked out of Stanley on the boats (Combat Support Boats as seen top picture) Here is a picture you might like from my time working on the Runway:
https://i.postimg.cc/KvpGzHrG/img07122020-007.jpg
Thought so.
Respect.
Indeed respect!
What an epic picture
Great story and pics Farouk. No doubt you’re reflecting on your experiences from 40 years ago. I’ve always held the view this was a remarkable undertaking and achievement by all three of the armed services. .
Absolutely. I was 10 at the time and glued to the TV.
Ditto – oddly enough it good good coverage on the News in South Africa. I waa a vey young candidate officer in the SAAF. We admired and respected (and were a little jealous) of those outstanding Sea Harrier jocks- just brilliant!
I’m speaking of those of us of UK descent. Some of the Afrikaans lads my not have been as enthusiastic in supporting the UK. Everyone to their own I guess.
Have a good weekend Mate.
And you K mate. 😁
Blimey Farouk CSBs and that bloody Kelp nightmare for our Workboats tangled props weren’t yours water Jet powered?
Tommo wrote:
Yup, the CSB was fitted out with 2 Perkins diesels which powered 2 impellers situated at the rear of the boat (under the two hatches there) which sucked water from vents also at the back of the boat. Fine control was achieved by the use of moveable buckets which directed the flow. Part of each first parade was to open up the impellers housing and inspect inside for any foreign objects, which only took a few minutes .
Cheers Farouk ,we’d watch you lot just go straight through that damn Kelp whilst we being Navy just gave up
As you will know we were based out of the Public jetty and used to get a load of calls from the Navy usually for Beer runs out to ships moored up in the outer harbour alongside the Stena Inspector (never knew my boat could carry so much beer) The one i can remember the most was HMS Cardiff and I was told to park up at the rear, where the beer was quickly offloaded, I was given a crate of beer as well, Also did a number of late home runs for ships crew who had missed their last… Read more »
Farouk Good bit of forces cooperation although when the tins ran out Cooperations went out the window ,ended up on the Stenna I 87 doing bugger all except getting call rounds up at MPA , there was a couple of CSBs down at Mare harbour called them Combined service Bitter , as that was all we’d get with The double DDs Devon and dorsets when having a tinnie with them
Farouk, did those aircraft land before or after you did the runway?
They were already there, apprantly they were unflyable and so the Argies used them as decoys
I was on her when she came out of her last refit in 2003 she was an absolute wreck even after maintenance, but she had a certain “something” about her. I sneaked aboard her one evening around 2012/13 when she was taken of the mooring in Portland and put alongside ‘Q’ berth for maintenance, it was horrible and ghostly, like seeing a happy home gone to ruin and dereliction! A firm reminder that it’s the crew not ship that make it. On another note she had a completely unique “trophy” (memorial may be a better word) in the Officers bar.… Read more »
When I was working off Public getty on the boats, we used to eat our meals off her.As I mentioned above 3 sqn was based on her and their Chef ran the Kitchen on board. he received a commendation for getting rid of the Islands stocks of canned Pilchards ((The larger army ration packs (10 man) all came with a few cans of tinned Pilchards and nobody liked them, so they piled up somewhere, well The 3 Sqn chef got rid of them. You went for dinner and picked a cornish pasty…wrong, Meat stew…wrong, Lasagna ..half right , to this… Read more »
Damn, that should be jetty
The Molten coins Trophy was transferred to the RFA Mounts Bay LSL and displayed
In the officers recreation room.
Looks like The Norland in the background Farouk, she ended up the trot in Pompey so we had a go and get any gizzits from her I got a carpet cleaner she got picked clean
Actually i believe thats the St Edmonds which became HMS Keren I sailed back on her on my second tour a year later, still chuckle as after we left Stanley and hit the roaring forties most of the squaddies became sea sick, me as a boat op didnt have that problem and was one of the few who bothered with meals. I rememeber the Norland well, as I moved accommodation from the School Gym onto the Rangi ,which had a huge mexi type float fitted to the back, this made onloading and offloading a lot easier such as allowing Royal Navy landing… Read more »
Cheers Farouk, a couple of our Lads got pressganged to crew the Black Pig if you can remember that old tug in Stanley
There was a request for lads to fly out to one of the smaller islands and kill a load of cattle for food, everybody presumed it was wind up, but I put my hand up and flew out with a load of army butchers, a vet, landed on the Island by Chinnook and spent the next few days building a corral and then proceeded to herd a load of cattle for the vet to put a round in between their eyes (but one inch above with a 9mm) we would then tie off their hind legs and lift them up… Read more »
Steaks all round
Never the main civvy cook on the Stenna was the same you never gave him abuse as you didn’t want anything extra in your Scran
As a boy I remember her entering the Tyne after the Falklands War for repair. Her blackened, charred and mangled superstructure was a sobering sight, and made the tv pictures all the more real…
Is she the oldest surviving ship of the Task Force?
How old is Argus?
Can’t think of anything else still floating other than maybe the T22’s that were sold off?? Broadsword still exists but isn’t active.
A bit of thought and some googling leads me to think that Sir Bedivere probably takes that crown, still in service (although largely rebuilt) with the Brazilian navy.
Other ships I can think of (of the top of my head) still afloat Argus, Fort Austin, Diligence (now awaiting disposal, though still subject to Archimedes principle!) and the QE2. Did any of the Pakistani type 21’s go down south during the “conflict”?
Seven of the eight ships went south. Amazon was the only one that managed to dodge the action. After the war, the six surviving ships were sold to Pakistan – all but one of them saw action in the south.
Four of the Pakistani ships have been decommissioned, with two sunk as targets. The other two remain in service, with rumblings of bringing one home. I bet it will come to nothing though.
Good to know. I’m sure I’ve RAS’ed all of them at one time or another. Interestingly they were the only ships I’ve ever known who wanted topped up with fresh water, they wanted it more than dieso, never worked out why. Did they not have RO/evap plants? Weird.
I think that might be a question for Tommo. Either that or they kept a few barrels of rum and wanted something to water it down with!
Cheers, lusty RFA lads must of liked their Rice boiled , and their uniforms spotless for that amount of fresher’s or as you put for those Tots of rum
You’re right, RFA Argus was also taken up for service in the Falklands War AND is still in service in the RFA!!
I thought of ex RFA Dilligence, which was a STUFT in 82. But she is newer than Sir T.
Hmm. One of the oldest, certainly. Not counting submarines, the UK only really has four ships remaining if I recall (this one, Argus, Dill and Bristol), although three of those are no longer in commission. Percivale is the oldest. Some ships of the taskforce remain in service with other navies. The two Fort-class ships were sold off to Egypt recently, after a long and storied service with the RFA. Sir Bedivere remains in service with the Brazilian navy (the same vintage as Percivale) and some of the Type 21/22 frigates were in use up until recently. A group wants to… Read more »
Hi Lusty. Were you in the service during the Falklands campaign? I recall you mentioning you served on the Invincible class ship but was unsure when? If so, it would be grand to hear any stories of your experiences.
The buggers sank Vince at least five times. Fortunately, we managed to salvage and repair her each time! They still claim that they sank her! The thing that sticks is the loss of aircraft.. but more so, the people in them. Vince was ‘lucky’ in that only four harriers were lost (if I recall), all from accidents. Two pilots died, and another young man died on Vince and was buried at sea. Hermes lost a few more aircraft, resulting in the deaths of 22 guys in one crash alone. It’s certainly a helpless feeling, with perhaps a little guilt.. was… Read more »
Thanks for posting this Lusty. There was a rumor that the Sea King crash you referenced had a bird strike on the tail rotor. Mid Winer South Atlantic are atrocious weather conditions to operate in, an amazing achievement.
That was D Sqn 22 SAS I recall.
yep – very sad outcome.
Yes, I head that as well. We’ll likely never know now. These days, we would have recovered or examined the airframe to determine the cause and implement fixes to the rest of the fleet if needed. In times of war, it’s just a case of rescuing the survivors, recovering the dead (only if possible) and moving on.
Bird strike or Blue on Blue The Cardiff did take out a Gauzelle ,in San Carlos resulting in the loss of its crew but the ship transfer of 22nd SAS via helo was a bird strike but then again 50yr Rule and you might finally know ?
A very sad day when that happened, and when the true nature of it became known.
Thanks Lusty,
Know what you mean Lusty Auction their belonging buy something then put it back into the Auction and keep going on we had a Wafo in Sinvincible who choked whilst diving the Newly seaborne WR,NS didn’t realise that when you bought an article you put it back into the auction again and again
Also.. I meant Tristram (the ship pictured), not Percivale!
Complete brain fart.
Cheers Lusty Hms Bristol D23 was the last RN vessel from Corporate her ensign finally came down last year she had been alongside Whale Island as a harbour training ship for cadets since 91
Must be now as the Bristol was the last task force ship in service until last year she was berthed up at Whale Island Portsmouth As a training ship for for SCC and Cadet forces with a Naval crew ensign came down in 21
I was in Dorset a couple of weeks ago and looking at Portland harbour from the east I was baffled to see the ship, I thought they had all gone long ago. So now I know!
Isn’t the Round Table class along the lines of what the Navy need for the multi-role support ship (MRSS) requirement?
Add a beaching capability for flexibility when RO-RO is denied and what’s old is new again – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMAS_Tobruk_(L_50)
Still think something like Damen LST 120 for both MRSS and Point sealift replacement would provide maximum flexibility. Keep the davits and you could do MCM or littoral ASW mission systems deployment from the platforms.
Ballistic protection?
AA
The ship is still used by UKSF for Maritime Counter Terrorism training, Some brilliant pictures and videos out there.
AA! 😆
Yes…..👍
Will vet posts in future!,
AA
They use reduced load “safe!” ammo. So I’d expect the ship to have lost of padding added to it to stop ricochets etc.
Was involved in the handover of Sir T from BISN in 1970. Great ship, glad to see she’s still in service
Mod are one of the poorest run outfits in the Goverment.Waist billions on tanks that can’t be used Helicopters that are faulty and god knows what else.Its all on record if you look.Billions now that could help inflation
Travelled across the north sea on her about 69/70. We took a squadron of tanks (centurions) from Southampton to Esbjerg for a big NATO exercise. I think Percival was the other ship with us for the crossing. Had a force 8 on the way over, exhilarating to say the least. Mostly crewed by Lascars then with British officers.
Good to see the RN making the most of its assets. Here’s another: it looks like feasibility of pairing up Wildcat and River 2 is being thoroughly evaluated.
https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/defence/royal-navy-warship-hms-trent-pushes-helicopter-operations-to-the-limit-in-the-mediterranean-3703731
I sailed on her out of Antwerp to Tobruk in 1968
6 months exercise in the desert sailed back to Antwerp late summer , we loaded her with trucks Landovers generators , she had her own cranes in those days , our return yo Antwerp we stopped in Valetta Malta.. great times and the food on board was superb..