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The Ministry of Defence made two major announcements concerning the RFA this week.

Firstly came an announcement about the purchase of two commercial ships for conversion to RFAs, the first of which will arrive on Merseyside later this week for handover. The 6,000 tonne MV Topaz Tangaroa was built as a subsea operations vessel will enter service in the Summer as a subsea protection ship, a new role for the RFA. She features a flight deck, an expansive working deck, a large crane and a “moon pool”. She will be renamed RFA Proteus and be crewed by an RFA crew of 26 and 60 RN personnel who will operate the undersea surveillance systems. Later this year the RFA will take delivery of MV Island Crown for conversion to a mother ship for mine countermeasures vessels including autonomous ships. She is slightly smaller than Topaz Tangaroa and is currently an accommodation vessel in the offshore industry.

Later in the week it was confirmed that the order for the three new Solid Support Ships had been placed with Team Resolute. The majority of the construction will take place at the Harland and Wolff facilities in Belfast and at the Appledore Yard with some construction also at the Navantia facility in Spain. The ships will feature a large flight deck and hanger, container handling facilities and three RAS rigs. They will be 216m in length and be capable of 19 knots in service. Construction will start in 2025 and all three ships are expected to be in service by 2032.