Fort Rosalie class replenishment ship

The "Fort Rosalie" or Fort class is a class of fleet replenishment vessel of the British Royal Fleet Auxiliary. These ships are designed to replenish Royal Navy ships with all kinds of armaments and victualling stores while under way.

They have the capacity to store 3,500 tons of stores, including refrigerated items, in four holds. They are capable of replenishment at sea (RAS), using three 10-ton and three 5-ton cranes and vertical replenishment (VERTREP). For the latter role there are generous flight facilities; a single spot flight deck, an emergency landing platform atop the hangar and a complement of up to four (but usually one) Fleet Air Arm Westland Sea King helicopters and the requisite maintenance facilities. As such, they are often used for aviation training.

Two ships were ordered in 1971, with the first entering service in 1978. RFA "Fort Rosalie" was originally known as "Fort Grange", but was renamed in 2000 to avoid confusion with the new "Fort Victoria" class replenishment oiler RFA "Fort George".

Both ships saw service in the Falklands War, the then "Fort Grange" being shadowed by Argentine Air Force C-130 Hercules aircraft while still 1,000 nm from the combat area and "Fort Austin" being attacked while sitting in San Carlos water.

hips

* "Fort Rosalie" (ex-"Fort Grange") - (A385) - built by Scott Lithgow, commissioned April 6, 1978
* "Fort Austin" - (A386) - built by Scott Lithgow, commissioned 11 May 1979

References

* cite book
last = Captain John E. Moore RN
title = Warships of the Royal Navy
publisher = Jane's Publishing
year = 1979
isbn = 0-531-03730-4

* cite book
last = Beaver
first = Paul
title = Britain's Modern Royal Navy
publisher = Patrick Stephens Limited
year = 1996
isbn = 1-85260-442-5

ee also

* "Fort Victoria" class RFA auxiliary oiler / replenishers