Following the 7.2 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti on Saturday the 14th of August, RFA Wave Knight has been sent to the area to help provide disaster relief.
RFA Wave Knight has been forward deployed to the Caribbean since June to provide disaster relief to the UK Overseas Territories & any other nations that require it.
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The vessel, while primarily serving as a tanker, can also be equipped to carry the supplies necessary to support humanitarian operations, such as carrying 380,000 liters of water, 2,000 disaster relief packages & 150 tons of food.
RFA Wave Knight arrived off the coast of Haiti on August 19th to begin supporting the relief efforts. The UK Government confirmed that Wave Knight will assist the United States in their response by serving as a landing platform for US helicopters carrying out humanitarian work. This will ensure that those helicopters are able to extend their range to continue providing life-saving humanitarian relief.
RFA Wave Knight has since been operating both their embarked Wildcat & US Blackhawk helicopters. As part of the wider UK response, the UK will also be sending experts from the UK Emergency Medical Team to Haiti to further assist the UK response.
Defence secretary Ben Wallace said the following in regards to the UK response:
“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. I’m proud that the UK can now play a part in the US effort to respond to the devastating earthquake in Haiti.”
Great work
Glad to see the Wave’s are still in commission doing great work, and not part of the Brazilian Navy….
I still think putting Wave Ruler back into frontline service should be a priority. She has been alongside for far too long now!
With the Tides coming into service and the delays to the solid support ships would it make sense to refit Wave Ruler with less liquid and more solid storage? If this is practical of course.
Interesting idea.
Unfortunately, I’m not familiar with the internal workings of the Wave Class. Off the top of my head, such work would require considerable changes to facilitate the solid storage, including major work to the internals, creating a means to move it (stores) to the deck and possibly provision of new rigs to support the movement of supplies. The ship would have to be certified to carry stores such as heavy munitions and any work done would need to conform to the appropriate regulations.
It would also mean a slight cut in capability. Only a few years ago, tankers were fairly numerous in the RFA, with the Wave, Leaf and Rover classes all in service. The Tides represent a massive capability boost over the Rovers and Leaf class, particularly as they have been designed to directly support QE and POW (note the placement of the rigs on the Tides). Even so, numbers have dipped, and if HMG wants to expand the number of escorts, provide new larger research ships, provide support to the yacht, engage in humanitarian operations and base ships overseas, we’ll need tanking facilities.
This requirement has partly been mitigated by larger ships, improvements to fuel efficiency, frequent port visits and shorter operations, but again, tanking is necessary. The requirement will be made even more necessary if we want to sustain deployments for a prolonged period of time, or if the RFA is required to move fuel stores to our depots around the UK and the wider world. Personally, I would see the Tides as the dedicated Carrier Group tanker/support tanker (two per group) with the Waves providing support to the LSS Groups/FOST/Overseas Deployments.
It should be noted that the six tankers that are currently in service have some solid stores capability. They can all carry containers on their decks, which can be used to facilitate the storage of food/drinking supplies/humanitarian aid. They can all store large quantities of freshwater, which makes them useful during disaster relief operations. They all have large flight decks, which allows for vert-rep.
Conversion might be an option, and perhaps one option would be examining moving one of the rigs on the Waves to the starboard side, giving more commonality with the Tides. But I honestly think the money that would be spent on it would be better spent on ensuring the three SSSs are delivered to the highest spec possible. We need to ensure that we support and invest in the capabilities of the carriers, now we have them. That means numbers of escorts, weapons fit, aircraft numbers and finally building the damned support ships! The future of Carrier Stike hinges on Solid Support.
In time, I would like to see an order for a second batch of two or four tides, allowing for commonality in the fleet and an uplift in capability.
Hi Lusty, great reply above, good read. I did ask this in a previous thread but are either of the two Fort’s completely beyond reviving and refurbishing even if to an acceptable minimum FSS standard? And if the three new FSS run late it could be an interim solution?
Thanks!
Theoretically, yes, they could be retained and given a darn good service to bring them into use. They have been maintained in relatively good condition over in Birkenhead, as I suppose the aim was to use at least one to support other operations. Like the RN, the RFA has suffered crewing problems, which meant a lot of effort went into crewing up the Tides and ensuring valuable ships (Argus and Fort Vic) could be used.
Both have significant dry-stores capacity when compared to Fort Vic (her tanking area takes up a chunk), which is part of the reason why they were retained in 2010 anyway. The only real issues are the obsolescence of parts, the lack of QE-compatible rigs and the fact they can’t operate Merlin. As they haven’t been used for a little while now, training a crew to operate them might be a big investment, considering they’re going to be replaced soon anyway. Finding those in the RFA/RN capable of operating them (individuals with the relevant experience) might also impact existing operations.
The main issue with the Fort I ships is their inability to replenish the carriers. Their MK IA replenishment rigs can support other ships, but they’re incompatible with the carriers’ replenishment stations. The investment could be justified on the younger Fort Vic, but it’s unlikely to be justified on these ships due to their age. They can provide vert-rep, but lack the capability to embark Merlin HM4. Vert-rep would therefore be provided by Wildcat or other aircraft from the group. The RN/RFA has opted for Merlin-capable decks and operations for all of its vessels now, and the fact that these ships can’t currently provide that is significant. Vert-rep also places strain on the helicopters and it’s reliant on good weather conditions, which will further limit their ability to support the carriers.
IF they were used, it would likely be to help support disaster relief/operations East of Suez/replenishing Fort Vic (if that last one is still possible given her modifications). Interestingly, it looks like HMG has removed them from the disposal list. That’s nothing new, but there’s the possibility that someone has decided to at least keep them until the new ships are under construction or in service.
2010 was a right balls-up for the RFA, with Fort George and Largs Bay being cut – two ships which would prove to be more useful than the old Forts, which have spent most of the decade in mothballs. Perhaps it was a blessing in disguise, though. The current plan is for three ships, not four like we once enjoyed. If we only had Fort Victoria and Fort George, I could imagine the current plan would be for TWO ships. Retaining three might have forced someone’s hand.
Thx. Wiki says Wave Ruler can operate a Merlin. At this point I believe that Fort Victoria is a single point of failure for CSG solid stores replenishment; until the new solid support ships enter service. I think your proposal to get Wave Ruler back into the fleet should be actioned with your container idea How much can you vertrep with a Chinook?
I believe it’s about 22,000lb externally, depending on the variant.
Second reply: yes, the Waves can operate a Merlin. 👍
You can see where I’m going with this. It will be a while before the FSS ships enter service. In the meantime we need a backup for Fort Vic, support for a POW based LPH group if we want one to sail at the same time as a QE CSG and ideally support for the Indo Pacific LSS group. Another Merlin capable solid/oiler supply ship is needed in the short term. If all it can do is vertrep then that’s better than nothing.
I think the backup for Fort Vic is the USN I’m afraid. That or sail the CSG closer to home.
Great reads mate, as always.
Thanks, mate. 👍
Yes, I second that. Good reads. And I like Paul’s reutilisation idea of the Wave Ruler. Do you reckon anyone in them MOD looks at this website for ideas? On a big of a tangent, the Navy Lookout has a good article on the upcoming decision on the interim anti-ship missile. It’ll be interesting what they go for and if they get a bit more than five sets if they can get more for the £200M.
Who knows! Many of us on UKDJ/Navy Lookout suggested the B1 Rivers should be retained, and hey presto, they have been.
It was a good read. I do hope for more than five sets. If they can put some on T45, it would further enhance their capabilities. The Sea Ceptor upgrade + the anti-ship upgrade would be a good combo. The other sets could be migrated to T31 when T23 retires.
Psst, if the MoD is reading this, bring the mothballed Merlins back into service. Thanks!
I would still like them to find some room to put another 24 Camm on board (maybe also down the sides of the current silo box) for a 48 each Aster / Camm which would be a very formidable combination. Plus a pair of TWS as well as the ASMs. I didn’t know about the Merlin’s but some more helos would always be useful.
Extra bit…if they go with the NSM I wonder if they can go for a six pack launcher as the missile is quite light all up or if not maybe squeeze in extra quad packs? The T45s beam seems potentially wide enough but not sure if the T23s could this? 2×4 is better than nothing.
I’m not sure if weapons fit down the side would be possible. It might just be, but it would take a lot of work. Perhaps a better option would be quad-packed Sea Ceptor in the space that’s being utilised for the new upgrade.
Both are sadly academic, as I can’t see HMG forking out the cash for that! The one thing that might be possible is assigning two Wildcat to the destroyers. They have the space to do so and 40 Martlet/8 Sea Venom or a mix of the two would be quite a force.
Great read, cheers.
This is funded from the international aid budget, correct? As to amounts of aid carried, 150 tns of food is a drop in the Sea given the population, unfotunately.