SUPPORTERS CLUB

SUPPORTERS CLUB

The Royal Fleet Auxiliary has introduced a fleet of four modern Tide-class tankers whose primary role is to support the Queen Elizabeth-class (QEC) aircraft carriers. Simon Michell talks to the managing director of A&P Group to find out how they were customised for this role.

Supporting Royal Navy (RN) ships at sea became a major priority with the transition from sail to steam power at the turn of the last century. The engines that drove RN ships from continent to continent consumed huge amounts of coal, which needed restocking on a regular basis. And, hence, since the introduction of engines, the Royal Navy has been shadowed at sea by Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) support ships capable of replenishing sailors with food, water, ammunition, and, of course, fuel.

Manned by civilians, and owned by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), the RFA is far more than a floating mobile pitstop service. The organisation supports the RN during peacetime and in times of conflict. It also undertakes deployments by itself, with its ships operating independently on the nation’s behalf offering reassurance to British Overseas Territories, contributing to disaster relief operations, and playing a part in counter-piracy S and anti-narcotics operations. The impressive fleet includes replenishment vessels and tankers for dry stores and liquid fuel, a 100-bed casualty ship (RFA Argus) and three Bay-class floating docks that can transfer personnel, stores, and equipment from ship to shore during beach assault operations.

Aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth and new supply ship RFA Tidespring met up for the first time in February 2018 to undertake a Replenishment at Sea (RAS), refuelling whilst underway at sea, in what was the first complete RAS between the new ships.

Royal Navy Photo, Crown Copyright

Although the RFA has had to play its part in the austerity measures brought on by the financial crisis, it has also very nearly completed the process of refreshing its support fleet with four brand-new double-hulled Tide-class tankers to replace the single-hulled vessels that no longer comply with international (MARPOL – marine pollution) environmental standards.

RFA ships Tidespring, Tideforce and Fort Victoria conduct RAS exercises off the southwest coast of England in May 2019.

Royal Navy Photo by LPHOT Paul Hall, Crown Copyright

The Tide-class Tankers

Although suitable for supporting the full spectrum of RN and alliance/partner nation warships, the primary function of the four 37,000-tonne Tide-class tankers is to provide ship and aircraft fuel and fluids to the Queen Elizabeth-class (QEC) aircraft carriers at much faster rates than the ships they are replacing. To do this they have been fitted with equipment that offers much improved transfer rates alongside a dual-hose capability that was not available on the earlier vessels. This superior capability is required to ensure that the two QEC aircraft carriers can be sufficiently replenished in realistic timeframes.

Based on a British design from BMT Defence Services, and built in South Korea by Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering Co, the ships – Tidespring, Tiderace, Tidesurge and Tideforce - have now all arrived in the UK and have been prepared for introduction into the RFA. The first-in-class, RFA Tidespring, docked at A&P Falmouth on April 2, 2017 to begin 17 weeks of intensive customisation work, after which she completed sea trials and was handed over to the RFA in November 2017. The fourth-in-class, RFA Tideforce, arrived in Falmouth in August 2018, and following modification, will be ready for operations by the end of 2019, having been welcomed into service on July 30, 2019. According to the A&P Group Managing Director David McGinley, the new Tide-class vessels offer a step-change in capability, including improved:

• self-defence;

• crew comfort and facilities for accommodation and working spaces;

• automation, enabling reduced crew numbers; and

• Replenishment at Sea (RAS) rigs.

Falmouth, which already supports a number of RFA vessels, including the Bay-class ships and RFA Argus, won the contract to customise and support the new vessels in a hotly contested competition that was awarded in January 2015. McGinley explains how the programme has been developed: ‘Prior to the arrival of each Tideclass vessel, the A&P project team developed more than 40 customised design packages using our own in-house design capability together with a collaborative approach with key equipment, systems and military suppliers’. He continues, ‘A period of production then took place to deliver key capability upgrades and equipment commissioning needed to support the Royal Navy’. Work also included delivering safety and environment assessment packages to all four vessels and facilitating direct stores.

As part of the programme, A&P also managed the full military capability trials for the vessels before they were introduced into service. These trials demonstrated and proved the full capability of each vessel, including aviation/helicopter landing and RAS. The trials primarily took place on the south coast and western approaches, but also went as far as Scotland and into the mid-Atlantic.

The first of the Tide-class tankers, RFA Tidespring, arrived in the UK for customisation work in March 2017.

Crown Copyright Photo

Supporting the Tide-class tankers

A&P now provides in-service support to the Tide class around the world on operations, during humanitarian relief missions, and throughout routine peacetime deployments. During the build programme, the company has not just sat back and waited for the ships to come to them; they supported the vessels even before they left South Korea, working with the ship’s staff and the Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) team who are located in Falmouth. For example, along the route to the UK, A&P supported Tidespring in Japan, Hawaii, and Panama, McGinley confirms.

On arrival, each vessel was docked at A&P Falmouth for a 17-week customisation period. Throughout this period A&P was responsible for coordinating all work on the vessels, whether this was an in-service repair or alongside maintenance or capability upgrade.

During these continued times of austerity, every penny counts, and so cost savings are always high on the agenda. Not surprisingly, McGinley is keen to extol his company’s ability to work efficiently and reduce the money spent on the programme: ‘A&P Group operates on a low-cost reactive business model, designed to flex to the work as and when required. In order to save on expenses, A&P completed a significant amount of work at A&P Falmouth rather than in South Korea, reducing the associated travel and subsistence costs’. Furthermore, A&P and the RFA work collaboratively to review and plan all scope of works to reduce costs whilst improving vessel capability.

The RFA has been quick to integrate the Tide-class ships within RN activities, and on Feb. 26, 2018, RFA Tidespring successfully completed the first replenishment at sea (RAS) with HMS Queen Elizabeth.