The old (twin 4,5 inch inch naval guns) used in the Type 12, 12M ,12 i, Leander-class frigates, County-class destroyers, other frigates and old Daring class destroyers of the British Royal Navy.
The Daring-class destroyers were both the largest and most heavily armed ships serving in British Commonwealth navies to be classified as destroyers.
They were intended to fill some of the duties of cruisers, which post-Second World War. were considered both expensive and obsolete by British naval planners, and the ships were briefly officially considered a hybrid type (Darings) before being rated as destroyers. They were also the last destroyers of the Royal Navt and Royal Australian Navy to have guns as their main armament (instead of guided missile systems), which the ships use during the Indonesian Confrontation from January 20th 1963 to August 11th, 1966, and the Vietnam War.
The Daring-class destroyers were in service in the British Royal Navy and Royal Australian Navy, from the 1950s to the 1980s. Following decommissioning, two British Darings were sold to the Peruvian Navy, which operated one ship until 1993 and the other until 2007. One ship of the class is preserved: the HMAS Vampire as a museum ship at the Australian National Maritime Museum.
Royal Navy sailors and Royal Marines stand in harm’s way this Christmas to guarantee global security and prosperity.
Crew of destroyer HMS Diamond face the clear and present danger of drone attacks fired by Houthi rebels at shipping in the Red Sea – a danger now faced down by more than half a dozen navies on Operation Prosperity Guardian, whose vessels are watching over merchant ships like the shepherds of Christmas lore.
Diamond’s sailors are just 200 of some 6,500 Royal Navy, Royal Marines, Fleet Air Arm and Royal Fleet Auxiliary personnel – roughly one in five members of the Naval Service – either deployed or on standby to respond to incidents at home and abroad during Christmas 2023.
Of those, 4,700 are regular or reservist sailors, submariners and Fleet Air Arm personnel, plus nearly 1,150 Royal Marines and over 700 sailors in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, the vital support arm of the fighting fleet.
Many of the latter are deployed in the eastern Mediterranean aboard aviation support vessel RFA Argus and amphibious support ship RFA Lyme Bay as part of the UK’s response to the crisis in Israel/Gaza.
The tense situation in the Middle East as the year ends has not only required a response from the Royal Navy but brings down the curtain on a year when the Service has, once again, been heavily engaged in all seven oceans. Other achievements of 2023 include:
Two new RFA ships delivered (Proteus and Stirling Castle) to help secure UK waters;
The fifth Astute-class submarine HMS Anson delivered and now undergoing operational training;
The capacity of Ukraine’s Navy continues to grow thanks to training from our sailors and Royal Marines;
The two Littoral Response Groups, central to future Commando Force operations, have been deployed to the Baltic and eastern Mediterranean;
The engine enhancements to the Type 45s are progressing well;
HMS Prince of Wales returned to the fleet and completed aviation trials;
HMS Queen Elizabeth provided NATO with the potential of fifth-generation carrier striking power for the first time.
The patrol ship closes out 2023 around the islands of the South Pacific, having begun it in Malaysia and conducted visits, exercises and patrols from the eastern coast of India to Sydney in the intervening 11 months.
They are marking Christmas – dressed in T-shirts and shorts as it’s the height of summer in the Southern Hemisphere – with Cornish-themed gifts donated by their affiliates at Cornwall County Council as well as presents from families.
The ship – which was recently singled out by senior officers for its efforts both promoting the UK and Royal Navy across a vast area and extensive work with allied and partner navies in the Indo-Asia-Pacific region – has offered its sailors unique personal and professional opportunities, representing the nation at high-profile diplomatic and military events, through to hosting Trafalgar Night celebrations in Sydney Harbour, diving on the Great Barrier Reef and touring the tea plantations of Sri Lanka on tuk-tuks.
“We’ve been proud to fly the White Ensign in some extraordinary locations,” said her Executive Officer Lieutenant Commander Matt Millyard.
The patrol ship is one of five deployed around the globe on long-term missions, performing a role and asserting an influence far greater than one might expect from 45 or 50 sailors in a relatively small vessel.
All remain deployed over Christmas: HMS Spey in Singapore for her end of year maintenance; HMS Medway is in Gibraltar receiving the same TLC after nine months patrolling the Falklands, which are now patrolled once again by HMS Forth; and HMS Trent is in the Caribbean working with US authorities in the ongoing fight against drug trafficking.
Icebreaker and research ship HMS Protector is the next farthest flung vessel from home – about 8,500 miles – as she conducts her first work period of the austral summer around the Antarctic peninsula.
Elsewhere, aside from HMS Diamond, the Royal Navy maintains a sizeable presence in the Gulf: frigate HMS Lancaster, which is supporting wider efforts in the region to ensure the safe and free flow of trade by sea, plus minehunters HMS Chiddingfold, Middleton and Bangor, their command/support ship RFA Cardigan Bay and the RN’s headquarters east of Suez, UKMCC in Bahrain.
In the mid-Atlantic HMS Scott is gathering deep water oceanic data to update existing charts.
The couple of dozen personnel of the Gibraltar Squadron and fast patrol boats HMS Cutlass and Dagger are keeping an eye on the waters of the Rock and the western gateway to the Mediterranean.
And, as ever, since Christmas 1969, there is a Royal Navy submarine carrying the nation’s nuclear deterrent on patrol somewhere beneath the waves.
Thanking personnel for their efforts – and families and friends for the ongoing support – throughout 2023 First Sea Lord Admiral Sir Ben Key said everyone could reflect “with enormous pride” on their achievements and contributions to the Navy’s global mission this year.
“I don’t think any one of us had quite predicted just how much and how busy we would be around the world,” he said.
“It has been a phenomenal year of delivery for the service, from the very highest to the lowest latitudes of the world and across all lines of longitude once again.”
He continued: “For those who are holding the watch over the Christmas period and away from your loved ones, thank you for being there.
“And for all, whether at home or away, on duty or on leave, please pass the thanks of me and the senior leadership team of the Service to your family and your friends.”
For those who are holding the watch over the Christmas period and away from your loved ones, thank you for being there
Opinion: Australia’s refusal to deploy a warship to support the multinational effort to secure global maritime trade corridors has rightfully raised a few eyebrows. Concerningly, it reinforces serious questions about the Australian Defence Force’s capacity to actively defend our interests in the Indo-Pacific.
I feel like a bit of a broken record, constantly reminding people that our world has rapidly changed and it definitely hasn’t been for the better.
Just in the last quarter of this year, we have seen the rapid deterioration of the global security paradigm and the position of the United States as the world’s pre-eminent superpower responsible for maintaining global prosperity and stability.
Nowhere is this clearer than in the ongoing collapse of global maritime security in the Middle East, which, despite the presence of overwhelming military might from the US and a coalition of partners ranging from the United Kingdom, France and Japan to the small island nation of Seychelles, continues to decline.
Noticeably absent from the global coalition is America’s “loyal deputy”, Australia, with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reportedly denying a request from the US to provide a warship, instead highlighting Australia’s primary focus was on our immediate region.
Now, many will say rightfully so, and I do agree, except this government has proudly declared that Australia’s “strategic doctrine” moving forward would be based on a concept of “impactful projection” in the Indo-Pacific, as we are repeatedly reminded by the Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Richard Marles, who said earlier in the year:
“I think, increasingly, we’re going to need to think about our defence force in terms of being able to provide the country with impactful projection, impactful projection, meaning an ability to hold an adversary at risk, much further from our shores, across kind of the full spectrum of proportionate response. Now, that is actually a different mindset to what we’ve probably had before.”
With that in mind, why then have we declined the US request to provide a warship to support the multinational effort to secure critical sea lines of communication through the Middle East, and what does it say about our capacity to enforce “impactful projection”?
To my eyes, it reveals a startling lack of “true” defence capability at a time when the world is becoming more dangerous, not less.
Something Greg Sheridan highlights in The Australian, where he states: “Not for decades have we been so radically unprepared militarily, and incapable, as we are now.”
“There is one overriding reason we can’t send a ship. None of the 10 operational surface fleet vessels we allegedly have available (seven Anzac frigates currently operational and three air warfare destroyers) has any counter-drone defence capabilities …
“The other reason we can’t send a ship is we don’t have enough crew. One of our notional eight Anzacs is more or less permanently mothballed. The ADF has been losing personnel at more than 10 per cent a year and radically underperforming in recruitment. We couldn’t sustain even a one-ship deployment in the Red Sea indefinitely.”
Yet for the Australian public, this reality is all a bit “eh”.
Don’t believe me? I invite you to raise it with your family and friends over the Christmas and New Year period and report back in the comments section.
Ask your family and friends, do they have home and contents insurance – because that is what our nation’s defence force is for.
Ask your family and friends, have they made use of the internet, mobile banking or travelled overseas – because that is what our nation’s defence force is for.
Ask your family and friends, have they purchased a new car, used prescription medication or even used fertiliser in their garden – because that is what our nation’s defence force is for.
Ask your family and friends, would they miss their Sunday drives, cheap consumer goods, luxury cars and steady access to life-saving medication – because if they say yes, that is what our nation’s defence force is for.
With that in mind, I have a challenge for all of us in the new year: It is to remind people, without being alarmist or “reactionary”, that our modern way of life in this “lucky country” depends now more than ever on having a robust, lethal and deployable military.
Get involved with the discussion and let us know your thoughts on Australia’s future role and position in the Indo-Pacific region and what you would like to see from Australia’s political leaders in terms of partisan and bipartisan agenda setting in the comments section below, or get in touch at[email protected]or at[email protected].
The 80-metre superyacht Artefact, owned by Canadian tech entrepreneur Mike Lazaridis, arrives in the Bay of Islands. (Source: rnz.co.nz)
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One of the world’s most exclusive superyachts has berthed in the Northland port of Ōpua for a two-week stay.
The 80-metre Artefact is owned by Canadian tech entrepreneur Mike Lazaridis, best known for creating the BlackBerry mobile device.
Built in Germany in 2020 at an estimated cost of $240 million and named Motor Yacht of the Year in 2021, Artefact is one of the world’s biggest superyachts by volume.
It is also believed to be the biggest motor yacht to visit the Bay of Islands.
The vessel arrived just after 1pm on Tuesday and was piloted to Ōpua wharf by the harbourmaster vessel Waikare.
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Artefact is expected to stay in the Bay of Islands until New Year’s Day.
It boasts a hybrid diesel-electric propulsion system, a range of 5300 nautical miles and a crew of 17, including two chefs and a sous chef.
The 80-metre superyacht Artefact berths at Ōpua wharf. (Source: rnz.co.nz)
The vessel is notable for the sheer amount of glass on the passenger decks – 70 tonnes of glass went into its construction – and interior features such as a high-ceilinged tai chi room designed so that practitioners of the martial art can hold a sword above their heads.
Lazaridis, 62, was born in Turkey to Greek parents, who moved to Canada when he was a child. At the age of 12, he won a prize for reading every science book in the library at Windsor, his home town in Ontario.
After founding BlackBerry, he went on to specialise in quantum computing. He has donated large sums of money to theoretical physics research.
When Lazaridis was nominated as a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2014, he was described as the father of what later became known as the smartphone.
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It was not known whether he was on board when Artefact docked on Tuesday afternoon.
Even superyachts need to get Customs clearance. (Source: rnz.co.nz)
Irwin Wilson, commercial manager of port authority Far North Holdings, said the visit of the “magnificent” vessel was a sign of the Bay of Islands’ post-Covid recovery and a bumper season on the water.
Artefact was joined in the bay on Tuesday by the boutique cruise ship Crystal Symphony, one of a record 93 cruise ships expected this season.
Though many more small cruise ships were calling in this year, the number of passengers would also be a record as long as there were no cancellations due to weather or other factors this year.
The season would ramp up after January 18 with three ships on one day on 31 January. The biggest ship, Ovation of the Seas with 4180 passengers, was due back on February 12.
Wilson said cruise ships played an important role in the economy of the Bay of Islands, and Northland, because they brought “fresh money” into the region rather than just the money locals recycling among themselves.
In this photo provided by South Korea Defense Ministry, U.S. Air Force B-1B bombers, F-16 fighter jets, South Korean Air Force F-15K fighter jets and Japanese Air Force F-2 fighter jets fly over South Korea’s southern island of Jeju during a joint air drill, Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. (South Korea Defense Ministry via AP)
SEOUL, South Korea — The United States flew long-range bombers for joint drills with South Korea and Japan on Wednesday in a show of force against North Korea, days after the North performed its first intercontinental ballistic missile test in five months.
The trilateral training off South Korea’s southern island of Jeju was meant to strengthen the countries’ joint response against North Korean nuclear threats, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said in a statement.
The exercise involved B-1B bombers and South Korean and Japanese fighter jets, the statement said. It said the B-1Bs’ flyover is the 13th time that a U.S. bomber has been temporarily deployed near and over the Korean Peninsula this year.
The B-1B is capable of carrying a large conventional weapons payload. North Korean has previously called the bomber’s deployment a proof of U.S. hostility and had reacted with missile tests.
North Korea on Monday launched a Hwasong-18 ICBM into the sea in a drill it said was meant as a warning over the U.S. and South Korea’s confrontational steps. North Korea cited a recent U.S.-South Korean meeting to discuss their nuclear deterrence plans.
The U.S., South Korea and Japan slammed the launch as a provocation, noting it violated multiple U.N. Security Council resolutions that ban any ballistic activities by the North.
The Hwasong-18, a solid-fueled missile, is the North’s newest and most advanced ICBM. Its built-in solid propellant makes launches harder to detect than liquid-fueled missiles, which must be fueled for liftoffs. Monday’s launch is the Hwasong-18′s third firing this year.
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the launch showed how North Korea could respond if the United States were to make “a wrong decision against it.” But many foreign experts say the North still has technological obstacles to overcome to possess functioning nuclear-armed ICBM that can hit the continental U.S.
Since last year, North Korea has conducted about 100 ballistic missile tests in what outside experts call a bid to modernize its nuclear arsenal and win greater U.S. concessions. In response, the U.S. and South Korea expanded their military drills, strengthened security cooperation with Japan and increased the temporary deployment of powerful U.S. military assets such as bombers and nuclear-powered submarines in South Korea.
Despite its torrid run of ballistic missile tests, North Korea has avoided new international sanctions as China and Russia, both permanent members of the U.N. Security Council, stymied any council responses to the North’s testing activities. In an emergency U.N. Security Council meeting Tuesday over the North’s ICBM launch, North Korean and Russian diplomats clashed with U.S., South Korean and other diplomats.
The aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford, arrives in Halifax on Oct. 28, 2022. (Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered the aircraft carrier Gerald R. Ford and one other warship to remain in the Mediterranean Sea for several more weeks to maintain a two-carrier presence near Israel as its war with Hamas grinds on, U.S. officials said.
It would be the third time the Ford’s deployment has been extended, underscoring the continued concerns about volatility in the region during Israel’s war in Gaza. The U.S. has two aircraft carriers in the region, a rarity in recent years.
Multiple U.S. officials confirmed the longer deployments approved for the Ford and the cruiser Normandy on condition of anonymity because they have not yet been made public. Other ships in the Ford’s strike group already have had their deployments extended.
The Ford’s roughly 5,000 sailors have been waiting for a Pentagon decision on whether they would get to go home for the holidays. The ship left Norfolk, Virginia, in early May to deploy to U.S. European Command, and under its original schedule it would have been home by early November.
The Pentagon ramped up its military presence in the region after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks to deter Iran from widening the war into a regional conflict. In the months since, Iranian-backed militants in Iraq and Syria have seized on the war to conduct regular attacks with rockets, drones and missiles on U.S. military installations there.
At the same time, U.S. warships in the Red Sea have intercepted incoming missiles fired toward Israel from areas of Yemen controlled by Iranian-backed Houthi rebels. They’ve also shot down one-way attack drones headed toward the ships and responded to calls for assistance from commercial vessels that have come under persistent Houthi attacks near the narrow Bab el-Mandeb Strait.
As of Friday, there were 19 U.S. warships in the region, including seven in the eastern Mediterranean and 12 more stretched down the Red Sea, across the Arabian Sea and up into the Persian Gulf.
Austin ordered the Ford and its strike group to sail to the eastern Mediterranean on Oct. 8, a day after the attack by Hamas that set off the war.
The decision to keep the Ford — the Navy’s newest aircraft carrier — in the region comes as Israel’s defense minister, Yoav Gallant, said Thursday it will take months to destroy Hamas, predicting a drawn-out war.
U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with Israeli leaders to discuss a timetable for winding down major combat in Gaza, but they repeated their determination to press the fight until Hamas is crushed.
The original plan was for the Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft carrier strike group to replace the Ford in the region. But Austin had decided to extend the Ford’s deployment and have both the Eisenhower and Ford covering the waters from southern Europe to the Middle East, Sabrina Singh, in a Pentagon briefing on Oct. 17.
U.S. military commanders have long touted the effectiveness of American aircraft carriers as a deterrent, including against attacks, hijackings and other aggressive behavior by Iran and its ships, including strikes on commercial ships in the Red Sea by the Houthis.
Officials said the plan is to keep the Ford there for several more weeks.
The Eisenhower is in the Gulf of Oman and has been patrolling in the Middle East along with the Navy cruiser Philippine Sea. Three warships — the Nay destroyers Carney, the Stethem and the Mason — have been moving through the Bab el-Mandeb daily to help deter and respond to attacks from the Houthis.
Other ships that are part of the Ford’s strike group include the destroyers Thomas Hudner, Ramage, Carney and Roosevelt.
While the U.S. regularly maintained two aircraft carriers in the Middle East during the height of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, in recent years it has tried to turn its attention and naval presence to the Asia Pacific.
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.
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.
RFA Tideforce was the first RFA vessel to take fuel at the newly refurbished Yonderberry Jetty which is served by the Thanckes Oil Depot. (On the Cornish side of the Tamar, opposite HMNB Devonport). While the jetty was being refurbished in a project that took a whopping 5 years, RFA tankers had to go all the way to Scotland to load fuel. (Photo: JD Plymouth, August 2023)
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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