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Previous name:
Subsequent name:
Official Number: 379796
Class: FORT CLASS Ammunition, Food, Explosive Stores Ship
Pennant No: A386
Laid down: 9 December 1975
Builder: Scotts Shipbuilding, Greenock
Launched: 9 March 1978
Into Service: 22 June 1979
Out of service:
Fate:
Items of historic interest involving this ship: -
Background Data: An order for 2 new Fleet Replenishment Ships was announced in November 1971 and the ships in this Class provided up to date replenishment facilities for both ammunition and general naval and victual ling stores. Both were fitted with extensive aviation facilities with a single spot flight deck and full hangar facilities. The roof of the hangar was also strengthened for use as an emergency landing spot which enabled them to operate up to 4 Sea King helicopters
9 December 1975 laid down as AEFS 04
9 March 1978 launched by Scotts Shipbuilding Co Ltd, Cartsdyke Yard, Greenock as Yard Nr 738 named FORT AUSTIN. The Lady Sponsor was Mrs D.R.J. Stephens, wife of the Deputy Under Secretary of State for the Army. Named after one of Palmer’s Follies, a fort in the Plymouth area
11 May 1979 completed
22 June 1979 entered operational service after acceptance from her builders
12 July 1979 arrived Plymouth for the first time
7 October 1979 her Ship’s Badge was officially presented to her
1980 Along with RFA’s OLNA (3) and OLMEDA she was deployed to the Gulf during the Iran-Iraq Conflict
26 June 1981 vessel visited by H.M. Queen Elizabeth and HRH the Duke of Edinburgh who honoured the Commodore with their presence at luncheon
26 March 1982 received orders to divert to Gibraltar to load stores for HMS ENDURANCE
29 March 1982 returning to the UK from Armilla Patrol duties, she arrived at Gibraltar and then sailed to the South Atlantic with stores for HMS ENDURANCE and service during Operation Corporate - the Falklands Conflict. Was the first surface ship ordered south
6 April 1982 was the first Task Force ship to arrive at Ascension Island and loaded stores which had been delivered to the Island by C130 transport aircraft
9 April 1982 sailed Ascension Island with 3 x Lynx and 2 x Wessex helicopters, 120 men of combined SAS/SBS force and an RN Surgical Team embarked. to meet the Ice Patrol Ship HMS ENDURANCE
12 April 1982 replenished HMS ENDURANCE then headed back north to meet the South Georgia Task Group
13 April 1982 rendezvoused with RFA TIDESPRING for a fuel transfer and to transfer food, ammunition and the SAS/SBS teams to the destroyer HMS ANTRIM and the frigate HMS PLYMOUTH and to transfer a full RN Surgical Support Team to RFA TIDESPRING in preparation for the retaking of South Georgia
16 April 1982 rendezvoused with TG 317.8/11 consisting of the destroyers HMS’s COVENTRY GLAMORGAN, GLASGOW and SHEFFIELD and the frigates HMS’s ARROW and BRILLIANT which was also joined by RFA APPLELEAF (3). RASed with HMS BRILLIANT
21 April 1982 arrived back at Ascension Island to restore
23 April 1982 sailed Ascension Island to rejoin the Carrier Battle Group
26 April 1982 entered the TEZ (Total Exclusion Zone) around the Falkland Islands
3 May 1982 rejoined the Carrier Battle Group
4 May 1982 embarked 170 survivors and the Lynx helicopter from the stricken destroyer HMS SHEFFIELD after the Exocet attack on her
9 May 1982 RASed with HMS HERMES
16 May 1982 recovered a number of Special Forces and their equipment which had been parachuted into the South Atlantic from a Hercules transport aircraft
17 May 1982 RASed with RFA RESOURCE
21 May 1982 entered Falkland Sound along with the HMS FEARLESS Group and claimed a kill on an Argentinean aircraft in San Carlos Water
24 May 1982 Near-missed by Argentinean bombs in San Carlos Water along with RFA’s RESOURCE and STROMNESS
25 May 1982 embarked survivors from the destroyer HMS COVENTRY and sailed San Carlos Water
2 June 1982 RASed with HMS INVINCIBLE
3 June 1982 was relieved by and RASed with RFA FORT GRANGE and RASed with HMS BRILLIANT, HMS GLASGOW, RFA RESOURCE and HMS INVINCIBLE
5 June 1982 began transferring stores to RFA FORT GRANGE
6 June 1982 sailed for South Georgia then back to the U.K
8 June 1982 arrived South Georgia
11 June 1982 sailed South Georgia for home
16 June 1982 RASed with RFA Plumleaf at 22 05S 18.56W receiving 704 tons of fuel and arrived Ascension Island 2 days after the Argentinian surrender and was one of the first ships to return home after Operation Corporate
28 June 1982 arrived back in Devonport on completion of Operation Corporate duties
24 May 1985 was presented with her Falkland Islands 1982 Battle Honour at Plymouth by Mr K Pritchard CB, DGST (N)
31 March 1988 Captain Shane Redmond OBE RFA appointed as Master
8 August 1989 humanitarian aid - provided assistance in Bermuda in the aftermath of Hurricane Dean
19 August 1989 Captain Rex A Cooper RFA appointed as Commanding Officer
24 June 1990 Captain Shane Redmond OBE RFA appointed as Commanding Officer
12 February 1991 Captain Peter J Lannin RFA appointed as Commanding Officer
4 January 1993 Captain Shane Redmond OBE RFA appointed as Commanding Officer
18 August 1993 Captain Peter J Lannin RFA appointed as Commanding Officer
9 April 1996 Captain Brian J Waters OBE RFA appointed as Commanding Officer
2 December 1996 Captain Anthony F Pitt DSC RFA appointed as Commanding Officer
Captain A F Pitt DSC RFA
January 1997 sailed U.K. as part of Task Group 327.01 - the Ocean Wave 97 Deployment to the Far East led by the carrier HMS ILLUSTRIOUS - along with RFA’s DILIGENCE, FORT GEORGE, OLNA (3), SIR GALAHAD (2), SIR GERAINT and SIR PERCIVALE
27 August 1997 Humanitarian aid - along with the carrier HMS ILLUSTRIOUS she stood by the French tanker ONCE which had an engine room fire in the Bay of Biscay
30 December 1997 Captain Peter Farmer RFA appointed as Commanding Officer
9 April 1998 Captain Peter J Lannin RFA appointed as Commanding Officer
9 January 1999 sailed UK with the carrier HMS INVINCIBLE and the destroyer HMS NEWCASTLE for the Gulf Region
30 January 1999 to 1 April 1999 Along with RFA BRAMBLELEAF (3) she was in Operation Magellan in the Persian Gulf - an RN/RFA Group deployed as a precautionary measure to counter continuing Iraqi intransigence over compliance with UN Security Council Resolutions
18 June 1999 Captain Pat Thompson OBE RFA appointed as Commanding Officer
12 November 2000 part of the Amphibious Ready Group led by the assault ship HMS OCEAN which arrived off the coast of Sierra Leone for Operation Silkman - a high visibility demonstration of the U.K. commitment to Sierra Leone - along with RFA’s ARGUS, SIR BEDIVERE and SIR TRISTRAM
2 September 2001 humanitarian aid - utilising a Sea King helicopter from the embarked 845 NAS she rescued 20 Moroccans in a powerless Zodiac inflatable boat which had been adrift for the previous two days in the Mediterranean about 100 miles east of Gibraltar .They were winched onto the helicopter and were flown back to the ship
3 September 2001 arrived at Cartagena and handed over to the Spanish authorities
8 January 2002 Captain Pat Thompson OBE RFA appointed as Commanding Officer
15 January 2003 sailed from the UK for Operation Telic - the 2nd Gulf War
24 January 2003 to 29 May 2003 deployed on Operation Telic - the 2nd Gulf War - along with 13 other RFA’s and had 4 x Sea King helicopters from 820 NAS embarked
29 May 2003 anchored off Greenock on completion of Operation Telic duties
27 January 2004 in dry dock at Hebburn on Tyne
31 July 2004 berthed at Gibraltar with RFA Sir Tristram to be present with HMS Grafton to celebrate the seizure of Gibraltar 300 years previously.
18 August 2004 at Devonport
24 February 2005 while berthed at Glen Mallen, Scotland an Argentine sub-machine gun captured during the Falklands War and held as a souvenir on board was found to be missing from the ship. A MOD Police investigation was conducted
4 June 2005 at Douglas, Isle of Man for R & R
28 June 2005 took part in the International Fleet Review for Trafalgar 200 at Spithead along with 8 other RFA’s
2006 Part of Operation Vela - amphibious operations off the coast of West Africa led by the assault ship HMS OCEAN - along with RFA’s DILIGENCE, MOUNTS BAY, OAKLEAF (2), SIR BEDIVERE and WAVE KNIGHT (2)
29 September 2006 Captain Anthony McNally RFA appointed as Commanding Officer until 16 November 2006
7 November 2006 with HMS Argyll and embarked 849 NAS together and in company of Spanish customs officers seized 1.33 tonnes of cocaine worth an estimated £53 million on the 950-ton offshore supply vessel MV Orca II 360miles off the Cape Verde Islands
2007 in company with the frigate HMS CORNWALL, she met up with the legendary sailing yacht GYPSY MOTH 1V off the coast of East Africa
21 June 2007 at Gibraltar
23 November 2007 completed trials after having been in refit at A&P, Tyne
21 January 2008 sailed Portsmouth as part of the Orion 08 Deployment to the Middle East led by the carrier HMS ILLUSTRIOUS - along with RFA’s BAYLEAF (3) and WAVE KNIGHT (2)
21 April 2008 to 2 May 2008 with HMS ILLUSTRIOUS, HMS WESTMINSTER, RFA WAVE KNIGHT (2) and the submarine HMS TRAFALGAR, along with FS SURCOUF, USS COLE, INS MYSORE INS RAJPUT, INS GOMATI, INS ADITYA and INS SHISHUMAR involved in Indo-UK exercises, ‘KONKAN 2008’ off the west coast of India
September 2008 with HMS Argyll in Home Waters seized 100 kg of cocaine worth £4 million.
13 September 2008 anchored off Douglas Bay
25 - 27 October 2008 made an official visit to Douglas, Isle of Man
17 November 2008 with HMS Somerset undertook a 'sea day' off Plymouth for the benefit of the press
4 December 2008 berthed at Glen Mallen
14 July 2009 moved to No 3 Basin, Portsmouth for lay-up
19 October 2010 announcement made by the Defence Secretary that she was to be be brought back into service in place of RFA FORT GEORGE as a result of the Strategic Defence and Security Review
27 May 2011 sailed Portsmouth under tow for Birkenhead and a refit at Cammel Lairds
31 May 2011 arrived under tow at Birkenhead
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