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The Royal Fleet Auxiliary is a mixture of old and new vessels. The Wave class tankers are new vessels, only coming into service in 2003. However, the other tankers are a great deal older, and are scheduled to be replaced with new double hulled vessels over the next few years. The stores ships are relatively modern, and so will not need replacing until the second decade of the 21st century.
The current RFA fleet includes the following ships:
The Stores vessels in the fleet are the four Fort class ships, RFA Austin,
Fort George, Fort Rosalie, and Fort Victoria. They supply Royal Navy ships while on operations away from the
U.K., with stores, food and ammunition.
Transfer of the stores is accomplished by heavy jackstay, one of the methods of replenishment at sea
(RAS).
The mainstay of the current Royal Fleet Auxiliary flotilla are the tankers.
Two of the classes of tanker in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary service are, the fast
fleet tankers of the Wave class, the small fleet tankers of the Rover class and
the slower support tankers of the Leaf class.
The third class of Royal Fleet Auxiliary tanker in service is the slower
support tankers of the Leaf class.
The new Bay boats are the replacements for the old Sir boats and are being
built and conducting sea trials at the moment. They are due to enter service in
2005-2007.
Two of the most unique ships in the fleet are the repair vessel RFA Diligence
and the aviation training ship RFA Argus. RFA Argus also doubles as the Primary Casualty Receiving Ship. And finally the
Round Table Class of Ships the Sir Boats. Most of the Sir Boats are now waiting
for disposal. Sir Bedivere is due to be retained until 2011, since it underwent a SLEP from 1994 until 1998.
A list of all rfa ships can be found here.
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