RFA Proteus, dedicated to underwater surveillance in areas of UK sovereign interest, has been welcomed into the fleet.
RFA Proteus will function as the base for remotely-operated vehicles and boasts a range of specialist capabilities analogous to those in the oil and gas sectors.
The formal dedication on the Thames was attended by notable figures, including the RFA Commodore-in Chief, Prince Edward, The Duke of Edinburgh, and business magnate Akshata Murty, wife of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.
Murty will be the ship’s sponsor throughout its active service. In maritime tradition, a ship’s sponsor is an honorary title bestowed to bring good fortune to the vessel, with the sponsor being considered a lifelong crew member.
Highlighting the importance and potential of the new ship, Commodore David Eagles, the leader of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, expressed, “It is a huge honour and responsibility for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary to be charged with crewing and operating RFA Proteus and delivering her unique, sovereign capability in partnership and collaboration with our Royal Navy, Defence and Government agency colleagues.”
Akshata Murty added, “It is a privilege to be the sponsor of RFA Proteus as she comes into service. The Royal Fleet Auxiliary are unsung heroes of our maritime security, and I am incredibly proud of all those who have worked on her to date, and all those who will serve on board in the years to come.”
Initially designed as an oil rig-support vessel, the Proteus now has a crew comprising 26 Royal Fleet Auxiliary officers and sailors. An additional team of 60 Royal Navy specialists are tasked with handling the undersea surveillance and warfare systems.
RFA Proteus is outfitted with a flight deck, a vast 1,000-square metre cargo deck, and a heavy-duty crane suitable for various lifting operations.
Navy Lookout also has an in-depth article on RFA Proteus on 10 October. A good complement to George’s coverage above.
Shows what can be done when we don’t f**k around with design studies and clever four letter acronyms. I can’t think it’s much more than a year since this concept was even announced. The rest of the military could learn something here and using UOR to purchase off the shelf equipment should be the norm as the defence select committee highlighted this year. I’m not sure if the plan is still to design something bespoke for the second ship but if it is that needs to end. Same goes for the MCM replacement capability. Something fighty like T32 should be… Read more »
Agree re 2nd MROSS, I’m not sure of the advantage building new re actual military capability. Work for UK yards is a different matter.
On MCM Mother vessels,
3 more of those are planned as and when the Autonomous RNMB fleet expands.
Yes, very much hope we get the 3, however building such small commercial style ships in UK yards does very little for us, better to go cheap and off the shelf and leave more budget for frigates.
I really can’t imagine what we would put in a military bespoke MROSS version that the offshore energy industry has not already developed.
Probably an inbuilt water boiling device and a dodgy radio fitted for but not with Photon Torpedos 😀
I would prefer 12 motherships purpose built for miltary use – a version of the Belgium/Dutch City Class MCMV slightly adapted for UK use/systems. I believe this is what the French are doing currently, using the Naval Group design for Belgian/Dutch Ships and modifying it for their MCM kit. Since we are using the same MCM kit as the French, it would make sense for us to use the same ship aswell, slightly adapted with our weapons and comms + nav/radar systems etc + UK build, essentially a scaled down version of what we did with T31 – off the… Read more »
This sort of thinking is more of a direct replacement for our previous Hunt/Sandown Class rather than fewer, larger (carrying more usv). I think it is better as although you might have less capability in one place, you have more options/ships, enabling you to cover a larger area and reinforce a particular area as required – if more MCM vessels are needed for a particularly large/intrusive minefield + less eggs in one basket
Clearing an established laid out plotted Minefield involves in the case of OP Granby up too at least 1 Squadron of Hunts and sweepers along with Divers and also Allied assets in total we were apart of 9 ship taskforce from various nations it took us until July 91 too make safe shipping routes in and out of Kuwait I just hope that forward thinkers in the MOD realise that 1 vessel such as RFA Proteus may not be enough for the task at hand Oliver
But those new minehunters have an eye watering price tag. I’d agree with other commentators get at least 4 more commercially built offshore industry vessels and adapt them to carry a crap ton of drones to do the dangerous work of mine clearance. Save the mothership risking itself entering into a danger zone. Although if damaged and sunk these vessels are £45-60 million not £250 million price tag of the new minehunters being built for Holland/ Belgium
The new Belgium/netherlands mine hunting vessel uses USV’s too as their primary/only? way of conducting MCMV so the vessel isn’t at risk + im pretty sure that 250 million is for 3 vessels, so 80 million each.
No mate the city class cost £1.1 billion for the first 6 ships ordered by Belgium (dutch contractual cost not disclosed as yet and neither is any proposed French navy purchase)- whether this is a recurring cost for subsequent batches and is the true unit cost or not I’m not sure.
Also important to state as none have yet been delivered to service the price might go up further- so around the £200 million each price tag give or take a few million and mission creep/ any contingency costs.
“…to purchase off the shelf equipment should be the norm…”
The purchase of off the shelf defence equipment will unlikel become the norm!
I would be concerned if it did! For security reasons.
And a degree of innovative thinking, something that we used to be the best at doing
Looks like she needs to get busy right away …. plenty to monitor
And the award for the ugliest ship in the RFA goes to…..
Do you think!? I like her.
Me too, I think she’s a beauty now she is in grey.
I prefer the more sleek lines of Type 45 myself.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. some might say she looks like an ugly duckling, but she has something about her thats different and gives her personality and purpose. At least you wont forget her if you see her.
I think you’ve nailed it, I’m intrigued just looking at her.
And again, I remember HMS Challenger and wonder how they compare.
Any news on the old HMS Challenger ? We’re she went when the cold war Axe came down ,or has she ended up in India chop yard 🤔
Ex HMS Challenger is alive and well (as far as I know), although almost unrecognisable (apart from the bridge) as the Namibian MV Ya Toivo employed as a seabed diamond mining ship. I had two brilliant years on Challenger but she was just too complex and specialised for the RN and got off to a bad start. If she had stayed, this vessel would probably have been her replacement anyway!
No idea.
Still in service as a diamond mining ship and very ugly looking now.
Did you see her alongside HMS Belfast?
Yes, she’s a big girl. At least, next to a WW2 Cruiser.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/10/11/royal-navy-proteus-five-eyes-ocean-marine-cables-pipelines/
Of great interest.
I know she has quit an advanced set of stability tanks and etc…but to the eye it looks like the stability calculations would be a major headache….I’m assuming it would be a pretty stiff ship ( wide and shallow hull in this case)..and needs active ballast systems to keep the deck workable in higher sea states…without the poor sailors being catapulted all over the place….I bet it would be quite vom inducing otherwise..🤢🤢🤮🤮
Well she does have a big nose and a flat top hair cut.
Hopefully she’s useful.
A rugged beauty in a way, very purposeful and what you see is what you get, substance over style.
Does she have any self defence armament?
Nothing fitted. Normal mix of gpmg, minigun, and 50 cal if needed I’d imagine. She will mainly be operating in UK waters though.
And that will be all she needs before anyone goes all River B2!
Lol. Ever see the article on Navylookout that explored the River upgrade options? You’d love it 🤣
https://www.navylookout.com/enhancing-the-royal-navys-batch-ii-opvs/
Morning Rob.
I’ve read it long ago. I recall one has CIWS fitted, which I’d support.
As I see the RB2s as useful presence vessels in far away places, they, by extension, would to my mind make useful SIGINT vessels.
These are the sort of upgrades I would like. Not bigger guns, ASM and all the rest the big boom brigade want.
16 inch gun turret is going onto the rear flat deck soon.👊
Shows what the UK can do when the he need is there ,rather than sitting on on our hands 🇬🇧
Posting links is allowed right?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaVG0ugstrE
Apols,
Vid will be of UK’s First Sea Lord speaking on the Royal Navy
Need 3-4 more of these and all the autonomous systems to make the idea work.
If we can deliver 4 more hulls and all the drones needed for <£1-2 billion it will make the Dutch/ French/ Belgium new mine hunter fleet look decidedly pricey at £250 million each.
Excuse my ignorance, supposing this ship did find someone interfering with cables or pipes, what capabilities does this it have to stop that from happening once found.
They will deploy a deep sea USSV with a note attached asking politely to “please do not tamper with British critical national infrastructure- thank you.”
Im jesting- not sure what the answer is hopefully something that will go bang in a controlled manner or grapple and remove the interfering entity.
That will depend what is found and what is to be done about it. Most likely they would find explosives attached to the undersea infrastructure. So deactivating/removing them to a safer area. It’s probably really unlikely to find a manned submarine. Even after finding the boat it’s not possible to blow it out the water unless a war is on and it’s an enemy boat. Unmanned vessels are a bit of a grey area and would really depend what they are doing/Carrying. The RN operators will no doubt work out procedures of what to do. While the 28 crew will… Read more »
And what will it do if it locates something that is a great risk to the nation? Another waste of time and resources.