Ian Mearns, Chair of the Backbench Business Committee, recently posed a question to the Secretary of State for Defence regarding the sea-going status of Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) vessels.
Mearns was interested in which ships were (a) operationally available, (b) undergoing maintenance or refit, and (c) temporarily unavailable due to mechanical problems.
James Cartlidge, the Minister of State for the Ministry of Defence, provided detailed information on the current status of the RFA vessels, as of 3 May 2023. He outlined the number of available and unavailable ships within each class and defined ‘available’ as ships not undergoing deep maintenance.
- RFA Tide Class Tanker – 1 not available, 3 available, 4 total
- RFA Wave Class Tanker – 2 not available, 0 available, 2 total
- RFA Landing Ship Docks – 0 not available, 3 available, 3 total
- RFA Amphibious Support Ship – 0 not available, 1 available, 1 total
- RFA Fort Class Multi-Purpose Auxiliary – 0 not available, 1 available, 1 total
Cartlidge explained that the normal operating cycle of each ship involves entering different readiness levels depending on their programmes, periods of refit, and Departmental planning requirements.
In the interest of maintaining operational security, Cartlidge stated that these figures cannot be broken down into any further level of detail.
That looks pretty good although the overall total number is low.
That’s what I was thinking, god knows why anyone would think we need 6 tankers available. We can’t deploy 6 warships at the same time.
This doesn’t mention Fort Victoria or the 2 new RFA vessels currently finishing off conversion with another 1 planned.
Then there will be 3 new solid support ships also later down the line.
Over all the RFA will expand and not shrink.
It also doesnt say about the ex RFA Diligence that is still up for sale
At the end it does “Fort Class Multi Purpose Aux”
In other words a Replenishment vessel for food, stores, and ammunition, that sounds like F Victoria to me.
The 3 new FSS replace F Victoria, F George, criminally cut in 2010, and the older Forts F Rosalie ( was F Grange, but sounded too much like George) and F Austin.
So while 3 for 1 sounds good in reality it’s fewer vessels as we used to have 4 and but a few years ago 3.
The new vessels RFA Proteus and RFA Stirling Castle come in but the two Waves are in extended readiness and I wonder if that is the end of them.
The RN once had Ol, Rover, Leaf classes, so down to 4 Fast fleet tankers which although is reduced in line with a shrunken escort fleet is not great.
I’m a great fan of the RFA myself and see it as one of the 4 pillars of the naval service that need enhancing, not reducing.
Overall the RFA seems to have a promising future with 3 FSS (yes down from the 4 Fort’s but that we haven’t had since 2010), 2 MROSS and upto 5 Castle Class in the pipeline.
Sadly can’t see the Wave’s being reactivated short of a national crisis. Not sure if it’s out of date but Wiki states the MoD still charters MV Raleigh Fisher to provide fuel to overseas bases which seems really odd when we have 2 perfectly good tankers laid up!
The days of 9 or more Ol’s, Leaf’s and Rover’s are long gone but I’m sure there are plenty of uses that can be found for 6 tankers including the Wave’s which have plenty of life left in them!
Yes, the Waves should be kept for use such as in the Carribean taskings and the Amph Ready Group ( old terminology sorry ) while the Tides support the CSG.
At least they’ve not been flogged off, yet….
I’d read of 4 Castle Class, but 5 even better.
I don’t use Wiki much for research as I find it unreliable, but this MV Raleigh Fisher?? I’d never heard of that. New one on me and I’d missed that completely.
Always hope for the Wave’s but we all know once vessels are laid up they rarely return to service. Imagine they’d make an attractive choice for any navy looking for tankers, but then again I guess not many other countries require the same sort of global reach as the RN and a handful of others.
I’d read it that Stirling Castle is the testbed which will be used to support CASD out of Faslane and then ‘upto 4’ other vessels will be procured for use overseas. We shall see!
Yeah, WIKI is often unreliable and the only other sources I can find are from 3-4 years ago stating that first MV Maersk Rapier and then MV Raleigh Fisher were chartered to deliver aviation fuel to various locations, but especially Cyprus (which makes sense given all the Op Shader activity.
Suggests that it’s the lack of RFA manpower that’s curtailed using the Wave’s rather than a lack of work.
Yes, Stirling supports Wilton at Faslane. I’d also heard manpower is responsible for the Waves. Not old ships either.
Bloody politicians.
MV Maersk Rapier & MV Raleigh Fisher maybe the same ship with different owners. I need to check back through some books to confirm
Raleigh Fisher & Cumbrian Fisher are both under contract to the MOD to move fuel and chemicals between the UK, Falkland islands & Cyprus
Thanks Simon, will have a look at that.
It’s all well and good saying RFA are going to get some new ships but who on earth is going to man them when they don’t have enough men for the current fleet?
In terms of promotion and T&Cs there are still plenty of far better opportunities in the commercial sector than with RFA, hence why recruitment and retention has been such a huge problem this past decade or so.
The name change to Rosalie came about due to a land base Fort Grange that exists in the USA and loads of msgs and signals were landing on the wrong desk in the wrong part of the world……
Is that so! I’d always read it was due to George.
Ok.
RFA tankers don’t just follow RN ships around, they deploy with Nato & other allies or conduct other tasking on their own.
Wow I didn’t realise we didn’t have a single other RN warship available to go to sea for the entire period that the CSG21 (5 warships) was deployed…
except that HMS Montrose was deployed to the Middle East (6 warships)…
and apparently another 5 Type 23’s were available for deployment from U.K. based (11 warships)
A only way of assessing it is notice for sea with Operational Capability. Anything more than say 72-96 hours notice can be an issue normally indicating a long lead maintenance issue ( Dry Dock, Top overhaul etc)
However being able to get to sea in under that time does not mean you can do the job you need to.
Example:- A ship has an issue with the flight deck paint failing and lifting causing a FOD hazard. Ship can get to sea in 48 hrs because it doesnt have any other issues, but its flight deck still needs to be blasted and painted which is a 10 day job start to finish and needs an air conditioned tent erecting over the flight deck. As such it has very limited OC to operate Helos from the deck. So yes its “available” but its got a massive hit to OC.
Mind you with the size of the Navy now the MOD will surely still be able too rely on STUFT if ever needed
You can pack quite the force of soldiers and vehicles on to car ferries if you really need to.
You can – I’m not terribly sure I’d want to be on one in a hot environment though…..
It used to be the HMG had a deal with P&O in return for cheap loans to use some of their fleet.
USN uses EFT Cats to move men and material around under the USNS flag. Basically ally fast catamarans similar to those used to do cross channel ferries. Basic recliner seats in the upper personnel section and a shed load of room on the vehicle deck. Really fast as well. And compared to a USN LPD cheap as chips.
They’re a great idea but I think the problem for us would be the rough waters around the U.K., especially the North Sea. This is supposedly why catamarans aren’t used by CalMac.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spearhead-class_expeditionary_fast_transport
Norland did the job in 82 Jim
Still got the 4 Points for routine taskings, down from 6.
It’s questionable what STUFT would actually be available… The British Merchant Navy is a shadow of its former self and British seafarers on ‘UK Flagged ships’ are becoming rarer and rarer. After the P&O actions of last year, there are only a handful of (Stena Line and DFDS) ferries that still have British seafarers onboard, and as for tankers or general cargo ships, the situation is even bleaker…
Precious few British flag ships left which would be suitable for STUFT, even fewer British crews available to man them.
Falklands and even the Gulf War sealift effort would be impossible now.
What about the point class or are they not RFA?
Technically owned by Foreland shipping that in turn is partly owned by HMG. Civilian crews as sponsored reservists, means they can fall under either Military or civilian shipping/crewing regulations. It’s actually a relatively successful PFI for once.
Foreland Shipping is entirely privately owned by Hadley Steamship Co. Apparently it’s the sole PFI enacted over the past couple of decades that’s worked out substantially cheaper than the state owned/operated (i.e. RFA) equivalent.
No.
Point class are not owned, manned or under RFA command. They’re purely merchant ships on permanent MoD charter.
The list of where and what the ships are masks the real problem. RFA is imploding. Shore based Civil servants have all left. The organisation is in complete denial . Discord at every level . No promotion or advancement . Austerity payrises enforced , commercial sector improving. People at all levels are leaving. Not one of the ships out and about are at stated crewing levels. Every ship is under strength in all departments.
Poor refits are placing extra burden on ships staff. Tidespring not actually back in fleet time 1 year after leaving refit !!!
The skills have been eroded due to reduced training standards of ships engineering and deck officers. A ticket will not stop a leak on its own!! The prime suppliers are not fulfilling contracts to cover in service support and items supply and shore base MoD commercial staff not maritime savvy hence contracts are weak to keep suppliers in line…
I am reading about the British Pacific Fleet 1944-5. Reading about HMS Unicorn. Looked like a carrier, but was used to repair aircraft & ferry them. There were other ships that had workshops that could repair, even fabricate, steel plate from damaged ships. Makes me think that the RN/RFA in 2023 could do with a cheap carrier (similar to HMS Ocean), but fitted out for repair of aircraft/ships, ferrying of aircraft/vehicles/parts. Would be useful to support RN task groups at distance, plus very handy for disaster relief.