January 2012

The Most Cost Effective Warship ? - In the modern world it is seemingly "horses for courses" as ever it was and is neatly illustrated by the situation that applies East of Suez at present.  The deployment of the brand spanking new Type 45 Destroyer DARING at a capital cost north of £ 560 million each on essentially Anti-Piracy duties neatly illustrates the matter.   The eighteen year old naval Replenishment Tanker RFA FORT VICTORIA with its augmented civilian crew is giving quite a good account of itself in the very best of naval tradition!

Thirteen Somali pirates were captured on a dhow in the Indian Ocean by a combination of Royal Navy, Royal Marines and Royal Fleet Auxiliary personnel, as dawn broke on Friday 13 January 2012 with the RFA FORT VICTORIA working in concert with a US Navy Arleigh Burke Destroyer manoeuvred towards the dhow with the intention of encouraging the occupants to comply with the counter-piracy forces. This should have been intimidating, given the size of the two vessels, but the pirates were determined to carry on with their activities.   RFA FORT VICTORIA was tasked to take positive action to disrupt the progress of the vessel launching the embarked LYNX HM8 with Royal Marine maritime snipers on board who issued various clear warnings to the suspects to stop.    Despite these measures, the dhow failed to comply with repeated instructions to stop and verify her intentions.   Immediately afterwards, Royal Marines in speedboats approached the vessel and successfully boarded it. The pirates surrendered as the Marines took control of the dhow.

The previous week the RFA FORT VICTORIA participated in the operation to block an attempt by pirates to sail the hijacked Greek chemical tanker LIQUID VELVET from the Somali coast into the Gulf of Aden where they would have used it as a mother ship to launch attacks on passing shipping.   The LIQUID VELVET had  been held to ransom since last November 2011.   The RFA FORT VICTORIA with its Royal Navy Force Protection Team cut off Greek tanker’s progress after she had sailed 90 miles from the coast - forcing her to return to Somalia.    The RFA FORT VICTORIA repeatedly circled the mother ship to push her back and also sent up the LYNX helicopter as both a deterrent and to assess the situation on board.  Once the Greek tanker had returned to her anchorage the RFA FORT VICTORIA stayed in the immediate area to ensure the pirates, who were armed with machine guns and rifles, did not make another attempt to sail out.

In these days of a “cash strapped” MoD, where Frigates and Destroyers are at a premium is there a case for returned the RFA FORT GEORGE to service “East of Suez” to partner the RFA FORT VICTORIA.   Under the 2010 SDSR the RFA FORT GEORGE was withdrawn in March 2011 as was stripped of stores and fittings at Liverpool, where the ship remains decommissioned.   To return the RFA FORT GEORGE to service will cost a lot of money, but if it were to replace a “Type 23 Frigate” or even a £ 560 million “DARING” then that cost would as cheap and chips as some once famously said.