Fort Victoria-class replenishment oiler

The Fort Victoria or Fort II class is a class of replenishment oiler of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, a role that combines the missions of a tanker and stores supply ship.[2] As such they are designated auxiliary oiler replenisher (AOR). They are tasked with providing ammunition, fuel, food and other supplies to Royal Navy vessels around the world. There were two ships in the class, Fort Victoria and Fort George; the latter being taken out of service and despatched for scrapping at a Turkish breakers as a consequence of budgetary cutbacks across the Royal Navy.

Fort Victoria class
Fort Victoria
Class overview
Name: Fort Victoria class
Builders:
Operators:  Royal Fleet Auxiliary
Built: 1988–1991
In commission: 1993–
Planned: 6
Completed: 2
Cancelled: 4
Active: 1
Scrapped: 1
General characteristics
Class and type: Replenishment oiler
Displacement: 32,300 long tons (32,818 t) full load
Length: 203 m (666 ft 0 in)
Beam: 30 m (98 ft 5 in)
Draught: 10 m (32 ft 10 in)
Propulsion: 2 shafts, Crossley-Pielstick V-16 diesels, 23,904 bhp (17,825 kW)
Speed: 20 knots (37 km/h; 23 mph)
Complement: 95 RFA / 15 RN / 154 FAA / 24 RNSTS civilians
Sensors and
processing systems:
  • Radar Type 993 3-D surveillance
  • Kelvin Hughes Ltd SharpEye navigation radar[1]
Electronic warfare
& decoys:
  • NATO Seagnat countermeasures launchers
  • Type 182 towed decoy
Armament:
  • 2 × 20 mm Phalanx CIWS
  • 2 × 20 mm Oerlikon / BMARC KAA guns in GAM-B01 mounts
  • 15 cell Sea Wolf VLS (fitted for but not with)
Aircraft carried: Up to 5 × Sea King or Merlin helicopters (3 in hangar)

History
Fort Victoria in 2003

Six ships were initially planned to supply the Type 23 frigates in their North Atlantic anti-submarine role. The Type 23 was at the time planned to be a low cost, lightly armed vessel. The Fort-class ships were therefore expected to defend both themselves and the Type 23 frigates with the Sea Wolf vertical launch surface-to-air missile (SAM).

The lessons of the Falklands War and the end of the Cold War led to a re-evaluation of this plan. The Type 23 emerged as a much more potent, multi-role vessel each carrying the Sea Wolf missile and the requirement for the Fort class was reduced from six to two.

Fort Victoria was built by Harland and Wolff and Fort George by Swan Hunter and the ships entered service in 1994 and 1993 respectively. Fort Victoria was delayed when she was bombed by the IRA on 6 September 1990 and nearly sunk.

Class details
Name Pennant Builder Ordered Laid down Launched Commissioned Fate
Fort Victoria A387 Harland and Wolff, Belfast/Cammell Laird[3] 23 April 1986[3] 4 April 1988[3] 12 June 1990[3] 24 June 1994, under "assisted maintenance" at Rosyth Dockyard[3] Active as of late 2019
Fort George A388 Swan Hunter, Wallsend-on-Tyne[3] 18 December 1987[3] 9 March 1989[3] 1 March 1991[3] 16 July 1993[3] Decommissioned April 2011
Scrapped 2013

See also

Notes
  1. "New navigation radar system for Royal Navy". Government of the United Kingdom. 28 January 2016. Retrieved 20 August 2020.
  2. "RFA Fort Victoria". Royal Navy. Retrieved 22 December 2011.
  3. Jane's Fighting Ships, 2004-2005. Jane's Information Group Limited. p. 818. ISBN 0-7106-2623-1.

Bibliography
  • Beaver, Paul, Britain's Modern Royal Navy, Patrick Stephens Limited, 1996, ISBN 1-85260-442-5

Fort class replenshipment ships at the Royal Navy website


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