Tom Sables – 14th May 2025 at 3:45pm
RFA Tidespring has broken away from Carrier Strike Group 25 while the ships transit the Suez Canal and Red Sea.
Instead, the tanker will head south around the Cape of Good Hope before rejoining them in the Indian Ocean.
Houthi attacks in the Red Sea have raised tensions in the region, which has left some wondering if that is why the ship has temporarily left the group.
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Dr Phil Weir, a naval historian and author, said the decision to detach from the group could be for a number of reasons.
“Whoever detached would have to miss a big Nato exercise, so you don’t necessarily want to do that either because it’s obviously great practice and great training,” he said.
“The ship’s decision to detach will have been taken before the declared ceasefire came in, which we don’t really know how far that extends and how stable it is anyway.
“So in those circumstances, detaching your key air defence destroyer HMS Dauntless, the Type 45, would be, I think it’s fair to say, tactically ambitious when heading through an area that might find anti-ship missiles flying and drones and so forth.
“That would really be a no, no. Beyond that, you start to run into the political because of course the carrier strike group is a multinational endeavour.
“Realistically, none of the allies are going to want to be seen as sort of caveating and stepping away from dangerous areas.”
The Cape of Good Hope is located on the southwestern coast of the Cape Peninsula in South Africa, with RFA Tidespring travelling around the south of the African continent before heading into the Indian Ocean.
Dr Weir said the ship would be able to deal with small surface threats in the region and would have a Merlin helicopter to “hugely increase their situational awareness”.
“They may find themselves with a small 42 Commando team aboard that might help with any anti-piracy work if they do any around that sort of area,” he said.
“So for the job that she’s being sent to do, she’s eminently capable.”
He went on: “What I suspect is going on is that Tidespring is heading down the west coast of Africa almost to cover for other ships that Britain has that are currently under refit.
“We can probably expect Tidespring to find her way down to start exercising with other navies, possibly around Sierra Leone, Nigeria.”
But what is the ship’s role in the deployment and and how will the carrier strike group operate without her?
Well, Dr Weir said the ship is there predominantly to supply fuel to the ships of the carrier strike group.
“She’s civilian-manned by members of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. Her main job is logistics, with a slight sideline in having an AWS Merlin helicopter aboard,” he said.
He acknowledged that he has no direct knowledge of the exact route CSG25 will be taking, but said the Norwegian ship, which carries out a similar role to Tidespring, is still with the group.
Dr Weir did point out, however, that the Norwegian ship has more capability to supply food, ammunition and other solid stores than Tidespring does.
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