MV Longstone | |
Class overview | |
---|---|
Name | Point class |
Builders |
|
Operators | Foreland Shipping Ltd (formerly AWSR Ltd) |
In service | 2002–present |
Completed | 6 |
Active | 4 under contract with the MoD |
General characteristics | |
Type | Roll-on/roll-off |
Tonnage | 14,200 DWT |
Displacement | 23,000 tonnes full load [1] |
Length | 193.0 m (633 ft 2 in) [1] |
Beam | 26.0 m (85 ft 4 in) [1] |
Draught | 7.6 m (24 ft 11 in) [1] |
Propulsion |
|
Speed | 21.5 kn (39.8 km/h; 24.7 mph) |
Range | 17,000 km (9,200 nmi) |
Capacity |
|
Crew | 18–22 |
Sensors and processing systems | I-band navigation radar |
Aviation facilities | Can carry up to four helicopters including Chinook, Apache, Merlin and Wildcat. |
Notes | Sourced from Jane's Fighting Ships 2008–2009, p. 876 |
The Point class is a class of six roll-on/roll-off sealift ships originally procured under a Private Finance Initiative to be available for use as naval auxiliaries to the British armed forces. Two of the ships have now been released from the contract, leaving four available for service with the military.
The Point-class sealift ships are the result of the Strategic Defence Review and are designed by Houlder Ltd for the strategic transport of military cargoes and vehicles in times of need. The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has purchased a 22-year charter from Foreland Shipping (previously named AWSR Shipping), who own, operate and crew the ships, utilising them as merchant vessels when they are not required for military service. The small British crews are provided by Foreland Shipping and are required to be sponsored reserves as a condition of service, which means they can be called up to become part of the Armed Forces in times of crisis. The benefits of this is that it guarantees crews in times of crisis, it means crew members can be expected to work under the Armed Forces Act 2006 rather than the Merchant Navy Code of Conduct, and that they would be classed as combatants and be afforded the rights granted under the Geneva Convention.
Four ships were built by the German company Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft, the balance being built by Harland and Wolff in Belfast. All are named for British points and headlands. They replaced the Royal Fleet Auxiliaries Sea Centurion and Sea Crusader in service. Anvil Point was the last ship built by the Harland and Wolff yard. [2]
Of the six ships, MV Longstone and Beachy Head were on charter to the civilian company Transfennica operating a RoRo cargo ferry service in the Baltic Sea, connecting Hanko in Finland and Lübeck in Germany. Most recently they have been operating on the Immingham to Cuxhaven route for DFDS. Other ships have also been involved in commercial activity with other companies and other militaries. All ships are available to the MoD at very short notice if required. The first four ships have been kept almost constantly busy on MoD duties since the build-up to the Iraq invasion in 2003, but MV Longstone and Beachy Head have seen little MoD service and were sold in 2013 as a result of budget cuts.
MV Hartland Point was part of the COUGAR 12 deployment under the Commander Amphibious Task Group and also active in operations off the Cornish coast in 2012. [3] [4] MV Hurst Point made a port call at Gibraltar in August 2013 and was part of the next year's COUGAR 13 deployment. [5] [6] Hartland Point recently worked with the Royal Navy and French Navy on Operation Corsica Lion 2015. [7] MV Hurst Point has been used to replenish the Falkland Islands garrison. [8] As of 2021, a Point-class vessel was reported to call at the British military port in the islands (Mare Harbour) about once every six weeks. [9]
According to a Defence Select Committee report released in 2007, "Four of the Ro-Ro ships are permanently contracted to the MoD with the other two at notice for MoD tasking. For the two ships at notice, one can be accessed in 20 days and the other in 30 days." [10]
In the Autumn 2011, it was stated that the two ships at short notice would be released from the PFI, leaving four ships available for use by the MoD. [11] The ships released were the MV Beachy Head and the MV Longstone, and the RMT union was informed that these vessels would be laid up or sold. [12] As of 2023, the former Longstone had been renamed New Amsterdam and was sailing as a Netherlands-flagged vessel, [13] while former Beachy Head had been renamed Williamsborg and was sailing under the Maltese flag. [14]
The contract for the Ministry of Defence to use the remaining vessels was originally scheduled to have expired at the end of 2024. In October 2021 the MoD issued a Request for Information (RFI) for an “interim” Strategic Sealift capability to begin in January 2025. [15] In November 2022, Foreland Shipping was awarded an "interim" seven-year contract, valued at £625M, to continue the service until December 2031. [16] This interim capability allows the MoD to continue with the current vessels until a longer-term replacement is found.
Name | Builder | Commissioned |
---|---|---|
MV Hurst Point | Flensburger Schiffbau [17] | 16 August 2002 [17] |
MV Hartland Point | Harland & Wolff, Belfast [17] | 11 December 2002 [17] |
MV Eddystone | Flensburger Schiffbau [17] | 28 November 2002 [17] |
MV Anvil Point | Harland & Wolff, Belfast [17] | 17 January 2003 [17] |
MV Longstone (no longer available to the MoD) | Flensburger Schiffbau [17] | 24 April 2003 [17] |
MV Beachy Head (no longer available to the MoD) | Flensburger Schiffbau [17] | 17 April 2003 [17] |
The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) is a naval auxiliary fleet owned by the UK's Ministry of Defence. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service and provides logistical and operational support to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. The RFA ensures the Royal Navy is supplied and supported by providing fuel and stores through replenishment at sea, transporting Royal Marines and British Army personnel, providing medical care and transporting equipment and essentials around the world. In addition the RFA acts independently providing humanitarian aid, counter piracy and counter narcotic patrols together with assisting the Royal Navy in preventing conflict and securing international trade. They are a uniformed civilian branch of the Royal Navy staffed by British merchant sailors. The RFA is one of five RN fighting arms.
RFA Argus is a ship of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary operated by the Ministry of Defence under the Blue Ensign. Italian-built, Argus was formerly the container ship MVContender Bezant. The ship was requisitioned in 1982 for service in the Falklands War and purchased outright in 1984 for a four-year conversion to an Aviation Training Ship, replacing RFA Engadine. In 1991, during the Gulf War, she was fitted with an extensive and fully functional hospital to assume the additional role of Primary Casualty Receiving Ship. In 2009, the PCRS role became the ship's primary function. Argus is due to remain in service beyond 2030. In July 2022 it was reported that the future Littoral Strike Role would be assumed by Argus after a refit to convert her to this role. As of October 2023, Argus had started her deployment to serve as part of Littoral Response Group (South) based out of the UK Joint Logistics Support Base in Oman.
RFA Fort Victoria is a Fort-class combined fleet stores ship and tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary of the United Kingdom tasked with providing ammunition, fuel, food and other supplies to Royal Navy vessels around the world. She is now the only member of her class.
The Albion-class landing platform dock is a class of amphibious warfare ship in service with the Royal Navy. The class consists of two vessels, HMS Albion and HMS Bulwark, ordered in 1996 to replace the ageing Fearless class. Both ships were built by BAE Systems Marine at the former Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering yard in Barrow-in-Furness. Albion was commissioned in 2003 and Bulwark in 2004. Each of the ships has a crew of 325 and can accommodate up to 405 troops. Thirty-one large trucks and thirty-six smaller vehicles and main battle tanks can be carried inside the vehicle deck. To disembark troops and vehicles, the vessels are equipped with eight landing craft. As of 2024, both vessels were in reserve.
The Bay class is a ship class of four dock landing ships built for the British Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) during the 2000s. They are based on the Dutch-Spanish Royal Schelde Enforcer design, and replaced the Round Table-class logistics ships. Two ships each were ordered from Swan Hunter and BAE Systems Naval Ships. Construction work started in 2002, but saw major delays and cost overruns, particularly at Swan Hunter's shipyard. In mid-2006, Swan Hunter was stripped of work, and the incomplete second ship was towed to BAE's shipyard for completion. All four ships, Largs Bay, Lyme Bay, Mounts Bay, and Cardigan Bay had entered service by 2007.
Future planning of the Royal Navy's capabilities is set through periodic Defence Reviews carried out by the British Government. The Royal Navy's role in the 2020s, and beyond, is outlined in the 2021 defence white paper, which was published on 22 March 2021. The white paper is one component of the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy, titled as Global Britain in a Competitive Age which was published on 16 March 2021.
The Gibraltar Squadron is a unit of the British Royal Navy. It is the only seagoing Royal Naval unit based in Gibraltar, attached to British Forces Gibraltar. It currently includes two Cutlass-class fast patrol boats with a maximum speed of up to 41-knots. The squadron also uses three Pacific 24 rigid-hulled inflatable boats and deploys one diving support boat. The 2021 defence white paper indicated that henceforth, one River-class offshore patrol vessel, HMS Trent, would also be permanently based in Gibraltar for operations in the Mediterranean and in the Gulf of Guinea. As of 2023, 28 personnel were assigned to the squadron, along with additional personnel assigned to HMS Trent.
Sealift is a term used predominantly in military logistics and refers to the use of cargo ships for the deployment of military assets, such as weaponry, vehicles, military personnel, and supplies. It complements other means of transport, such as strategic airlifts, in order to enhance a state's ability to project power.
A joint support ship (JSS) is a multi-role naval vessel capable of launching and supporting joint amphibious and airlift operations. It can also provide command and control, sealift and seabasing, underway replenishment, disaster relief and logistics capabilities for combined land and sea operations.
The Amphibious Assault Ship Project was a proposed procurement project by the Government of Canada for the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN). However, no such project was incorporated into the Government's defence plan Strong, Secure and Engaged released in 2017 and cost challenges with other naval procurement projects under the National Shipbuilding Procurement Strategy has led to no movement on the idea.
Mare Harbour, known colloquially as East Cove Port, is a small settlement on East Falkland, on Choiseul Sound. It is mostly used as a port facility and depot for RAF Mount Pleasant, as well as a deepwater port used by the Royal Navy ships patrolling the South Atlantic and Antarctica, which means that the main harbour of the islands, Stanley Harbour tends to deal with commercial transport.
Dublin Swift is a high-speed catamaran built in 2001 by Austal as a passenger and vehicle catamaran ferry. After conversion to a Maritime Prepositioning ship the vessel was chartered by the United States Navy's Military Sealift Command until January 2018 as WestPac Express. It was then converted for civilian use as a passenger ferry by Irish Ferries and renamed Dublin Swift.
Foreland Shipping Limited is a company formed for the express purpose of building and owning the Point class sealift ships. The six original ships were for the purpose of providing a transport capability to the British armed forces in times of emergency, but in normal circumstances four vessels were engaged on MoD related activities and two were operated as commercial ships. The crews are part of the naval reserve and are under military discipline when required for service by the UK government.
The Type C7 ship(Lancer Class) is a United States Maritime Administration (MARAD) designation for a cargo ship and the first US purpose-built container ship. The vessels were constructed in US shipyards and entered service starting in 1968. As US-built ships they were Jones Act qualified for shipments between US domestic ports. Under the Jones Act, domestic US maritime trade is restricted to US-built and flagged vessels of US owners and manned by predominantly US-citizen crews. The last active Lancer container-configured ship was scrapped in 2019. Lancers of the vehicle Roll-on/Roll-off (RO/RO) configuration remain held in the Ready Reserve Force, National Defense Reserve Fleet and the US Navy Military Sealift Command. All are steam powered.
The MV Cape Rise (T-AKR-9678), formerly Saudi Riyadh, formerly Seaspeed Arabia, is a roll-on/roll-off (RO/RO) and container ship built in 1977.
The Type 31 frigate, also known as the Inspiration class, and formerly known as the Type 31e frigate or General Purpose Frigate (GPF), is a class of five frigates being built for the United Kingdom's Royal Navy, with variants also being built for the Indonesian and Polish navies. The Type 31 is intended to enter service in the 2020s alongside the eight submarine-hunting Type 26 frigate and will replace the five general-purpose Type 23 frigates. The Type 31 is part of the British government's "National Shipbuilding Strategy".
A fleet solid support ship is a type of Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) ship designed to supply solids, such as ammunition, explosives and food, to Royal Navy ships at sea. The term can also refer to the programme to replace the RFA's existing solid support ships, the Fleet Solid Support Ship Programme.
The Fleet Solid Support Ship Programme (FSSP) aims to deliver up to three fleet solid support ships to the British Royal Fleet Auxiliary. The ships will be used to provide underway replenishment of dry stores, such as ammunition, spare parts and supplies, to ships of the Royal Navy. They will regularly deploy with the UK Carrier Strike Group, providing crucial supplies to the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers and their escorts. All three ships had been scheduled to enter service between 2028 and 2032. However, subsequently the Ministry of Defence indicated that the first ship would in fact not be operational until 2031.