The ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary are a vital part of the UK naval capability but the past year has been a story of very mixed fortunes for the service. Here we look at the current status of the fleet.
Pay rise or bust
While there is growing concern about declining personnel numbers in the RN, the crisis is in the RFA is even more acute. Despite the attractions of generally more varied and exciting service in support of the RN than working in the commercial sector, fundamentally RFA salaries are increasingly uncompetitive. There is a global shortage of mariners and it is very easy for sailors to move to better-paid jobs. The commercial sector has faced up to the reality of inflation and greater competition and is paying much higher salaries than a few years ago. RFA pay structures are hamstrung by the Navy’s budget and government trying to exercise pay restraint.
Between 2021-22, the number of RFA sailors declined from 1,840 to 1,750, a loss of nearly 5% from a workforce that was already overstretched and numbers continued to fall this year. Many RFA vessels are now operating a Tailored Scheme of Compliment (TSOC), the minimum level of crew possible to run the ship safely which can mean being 20-30% short-handed. The RFA is currently short of at least 70 deck ratings alone, a large proportion amongst a relatively small organisation. Marine engineers are in especially short supply and the average age of those still loyally serving is increasing due to a failure to attract new recruits.
Navy Command has begun to explore the possibilities of small-scale outsourcing, whereby Serco might supply qualified mariners on FTRS contracts to backfill workforce gaps. This system can also provide specialists with the expertise needed to operate non-typical platforms like RFA Proteus. Outsourcing may be a partial solution but is not an affordable way to deliver the overall number of people needed.
Both the Nautilus Union which represents officers and the RMT Union which represents about 500 other RFA sailors have balloted their members on strike action which is likely to take place in the new year. The unions quite rightly point out the 4.5 % pay offer made in 2023 is well below the rate of inflation and since 2010, RFA mariners have faced a pay cut in real terms of over 30%. Until the leadership is funded and empowered to considerably increase salaries, there are very few other solutions that will properly remedy this crisis and expect to see more ships laid up for lack of sailors if action is not taken quickly.
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RFA Cardigan Bay back alongside in Bahrain, following involvement during December 2022 in maritime security for the football World Cup in Qatar, January 2023 (Photo: Andrew Pozzi).
Two steps forward…
On paper, the RFA actually grew in size this year from 11 ships to 13. Another major positive for 2023 was that finally the Fleet Solid Support ships contract has been signed and steel will be cut for the first ship in 2025. The fleet continued to provide its usual high-quality support to the RN on operations, although on a modest scale in comparison with years past.
The most high-profile activity for the RFA was the deployment of the Littoral Response Group (South). Having been in the planning for several years, RFA Argus and RFA Lyme Bay were due to be based in the Middle East operating from Duqm and potentially conducting operations over a wide area from the Gulf of Aden to the Indian Ocean and Persian Gulf. The conflict in Israel erupted just as the ships were leaving the UK and they were rushed to the eastern Mediterranean. They have spent the last few weeks alongside in Limassol and off Cyprus awaiting developments.
Initially, it was thought they might be needed to evacuate UK citizens if the conflict spread but subsequently, they are being considered for deployment on a humanitarian aid operation to Gaza. One proposal is that Israeli forces would be allowed to search aid supplies being loaded onto the ships in Cyprus before they are used to deliver aid to Gaza. As there is no viable port this would likely involve delivery of supplies across beaches and by helicopter. Considerable risk would be attached to such an operation as Hamas and other assorted Palestinian and Islamic militias cannot be relied on to cooperate.
…three steps back
Despite a fleet of ships that numbers 13 vessels on paper, the frontline reality is rather different. Although credible sources suggested that the two laid-up tankers, RFA Wave Knight and RFA Wave Ruler would be put up for sale to a foreign navy, the MoD insists they will remain in ‘Extended Readiness’ until 2028. Wave Knight was laid up in 2022 while Wave Ruler has been inactive since 2018 and there is little prospect they will return to service anytime in the near future. RFA Fort Victoria has been inactive since the end of 2021 and after a planned refit in 2022 has spent time in Devonport and Leith but is now back at Cammell Laird. Needing further maintenance work and the general crew shortage means she remains in Birkenhead for some time. Hopefully, she will emerge in time to support the carrier strike group deployment in 2025.
RFA Tiderace entered refit at Cammell Laird in February 2023, the maintenance package has been completed but the ship is still in Birkenhead. The RFA simply cannot find the 60 sailors needed to crew this tanker that only entered service in 2018. Although RFA Tideforce did provide support to both carrier deployments in the Autumn, the three active tankers have mostly remained in Northern European waters or the North Atlantic. Additional replenishment vessels, particularly East of Suez would be very useful right now but it appears it is not possible to deploy a tanker in support of the RN and its allies in the area in a way that used to be routine.
The MoD had promised RFA Proteus would begin underwater infrastructure patrols in the Summer of 2023 but she did not leave the shipyard until September. She was formally named in a high-profile ceremony in London in early October. She subsequently began a partial workup but has yet to complete Operational Sea Training and will have to return to Cammell Laird in January for her 5-yearly dry docking and inspections that are mandated under DNV class rules. It is unclear when exactly she will be able to begin the important MROS mission she was purchased for.
Progress bringing the new mine warfare support ship, RFA Stirling Castle, into service has also stalled. She began a workup in the summer and conducted a few days of basic trials with autonomous MCM boats in Portland but has been alongside since. The formal naming ceremony planned for August has been postponed to the spring of 2024 and she is believed to have some defects that may also require attention from Cammell Laird.
Fleet review
RFA Tidespring completed refit in the Summer of 2022 but was stuck alongside in Devonport and then in Portland until July this year due to a defect in her cargo systems. This was eventually rectified and she made a short visit to Gibraltar in August. For the rest of the year, she has operated mostly around the UK including as the duty FOST tanker.
RFA Tiderace arrived on Merseyside in February for planned maintenance but has been in the shipyard ever since unable to rejoin the fleet due to lack of personnel.
RFA Tidesurge had a busy year and supported exercise Joint Warrior held in the Norwegian Sea during March of this year. She also replenished NATO warships during exercise Formidable Shield in May and operated inside the the Arctic Circle. She visited Gibraltar briefly in July and entered Cammell Laird for a short maintenance period between September to November.
RFA Tideforce was also very active in 2023, beginning the year on the South coast before heading to Scotland. In April she participated in the large-scale NATO ASW exercise Dynamic Mongoose being held between Norway and Iceland and in June briefly supported the USS Gerald R Ford carrier strike group. She returned to the South coast before replenishing HMS Prince of Wales as she began her crossing of the Atlantic in early September. She subsequently supported HMS Queen Elizabeth and the Carrier Strike Group during the initial phase of the Autumn deployment.
RFA Cardigan Bay is permanently forward deployed and based in Bahrain as a mothership for mine warfare forces. The RN’s first Autonomous mine hunting vessel RNMB Harrier arrived in theatre this year and will be deployed from the ship. She participated in the 3-week International Maritime Exercise in March and exercise Artemis Trident trialling various autonomous minehunting technologies alongside traditional methods. In April she sailed at short notice to support an evacuation of UK nationals from Sudan after conflict erupted in the country but she was stood down, being no longer needed and returned to Bahrain. Following the flare-up of conflict in the Middle East, she has been at sea in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman.
RFA Mounts Bay Following a month of maintenance in Devonport, she visited Portsmouth in February and participated in exercise JointWarrior (JW23-1) held off Norway in particularly foul weather during March. She underwent a further maintenance period in Falmouth before visiting Gibraltar in July. She was deployed in the Baltic Sea briefly in September and returned to the UK before another trip the the Baltic, arriving in Helsinki for exercise Freezing Winds in November. She was also earmarked as one of 7 ships the RN was employing on underwater infrastructure patrols but it is unclear what her role would be and for how long she has this task.
RFA Lyme Bay completed an 8-month refit in Falmouth in February but spent a long time in Devonport before completing FOST certification. She remained off the South Coast preparing to deploy for LRG(S) and embarking stores and Royal Marines. She arrived in Gibraltar with RFA Argus in October and her future tasking for now is unclear, subject to events in Israel and Gaza.
RFA Argus was officially extended in service last year and will soldier on beyond 2030, designated as the Littoral Strike Ship. This vessel, built in 1981, is described as ‘maintenance intensive’ but doesn’t need new engines and her steelwork is sound. There have been minimal changes for her new role apart from the addition of a single Phalanx CIWS mount. After a short maintenance period in Falmouth, she conducted aviation training with Army Apache attack helicopters, visited Belfast, the Clyde, Portland and Devonport as she prepared for her long-term LRG(S) overseas deployment.
RFA Proteus is currently in Devonport. RFA Stirling Castle is alongside in Portland having, yet to sail beyond the South Coast since being delivered from her previous owners in Norway. At least in 2024 these two new vessels should start to get into their stride. RFA Fort Victoria is in Birkenhead with a skeleton care and maintenance crew.
Logistic support is still the core function of the RFA but its roles are actually diversifying, despite the tough times. It continues to be at the heart of many RN operations but there are limitations on what it can deliver. Never mind new ships, the ability to crew the existing fleet that would represent a major uplift in capability but that seems quite out of reach in the current circumstances. The RFA represents very good value for the taxpayer and consumes only a small part of the Naval Service RDEL budget. Only a relatively modest amount of extra funding would be needed in order to be able to offer more competitive salaries and improve the personnel situation.
Main image: Andy Amor. RFA Argus and RFA Proteus alongside at Portland, October 2023.
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