Rover Class Tanker (RFA)

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SKB
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Rover Class Tanker (RFA)

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Image
^ RFA Black Rover (A273)

Introduction
The Rover class is a ship class of "Small Fleet Tanker" of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary of the United Kingdom. They are tasked with the support of naval warships by the replenishment at sea (RAS) with fuel oils and with limited supplies of other naval stores. For RAS tasking, they can refuel a vessel on either beam and a third trailing astern and have a large flight deck to allow vertical replenishment (VERTREP) with helicopters.


RFA Green Rover (A268)
RFA Green Rover was a fleet support tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. Green Rover was built by Swan Hunter, Hebburn-on-Tyne, UK. She is a single hulled tanker and carries a mixture of fuel oil, aviation fuel, lubricating oil and fresh water. She was in service with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary from 1969 till 1992. Green Rover was decommissioned in 1992 from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary and sold to the Indonesian Navy. She was renamed KRI Arun and in addition to providing tanker duties, also became the flagship of the Training Commander in the Indonesian fleet. She is still in service as of 2006.


RFA Grey Rover (A269)
Grey Rover was launched at the Swan Hunter yard, Hebburn on Tyne, on 17 April 1969. The Lady Sponsor was Lady Parker, the wife of Vice Admiral Sir John Parker KBE, CB, DSC who was Flag Officer Medway. She was completed on 10 April 1970 and accepted into service 3-months later than planned. In September 1970, she took over from Black Ranger as FOST tanker. During Operation Corporate (the Falklands War), Grey Rover was the only operational RFA tanker which remained on the home coast. She carried out RAS trials with STUFT ships en route to the Falkland Islands in the SW Approaches to the English Channel whilst herself based at Portland. The smallest vessel worked with was the trawler F/V Farnella and the largest was the liner RMS Queen Elizabeth 2. On 2 February 2006, while supporting the Type 42 destroyer HMS Southampton in the Caribbean as part of Atlantic Patrol Task (North), Grey Rover was involved in the boarding of merchant vessel M/V Rampage and the seizure of 3.5t of cocaine with an estimated street value of £350 million. Grey Rover's last refit was 15 June - 27 November 1998 which extended her service life into the 21st century. On 1 November 2004, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence Procurement Lord Bach announced that Grey Rover would have a decommissioning date of 2007. She paid off early on 15 March 2006 and was towed to Canada Dock, Liverpool for scrapping. Her scrapping was recorded in a time-lapse video.


RFA Blue Rover (A270)
The ship belongs to the Rover-class tankers, built by the Swan Hunter in Hebburn, England from 1969. From 1970 to 1993, the ship was part of the British Royal Fleet Auxiliary, as the RFA Blue Rover (A270). In 1993, it went to the Portuguese Navy and renamed Bérrio. In British service, the Blue Rover participated in the Falklands War in 1982. In the service of the Portuguese Navy, the Bérrio participated in the Operation Crocodile (Operação Crocodilo) in 1998, as part of the Portuguese naval task force that rescued foreign nationals caught in the civil conflicts in Guinea-Bissau and then supported the mediators of the CPLP in the peace talks between the parts in conflict.


RFA Gold Rover (A271)
RFA Gold Rover is a small fleet tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary and is one of five Rover-class ships that were designed by the Admiralty, all of which were built at the Swan Hunter shipyard. Today Gold Rover and her sister Black Rover are the last two in service with the RFA on duty around the world. The others have all been phased out as part of a worldwide effort to replace single-hulled tankers with more environmentally safe double-hulled vessels. In July 1974 Gold Rover participated in evacuation duties during the partition of Cyprus during the Turkish invasion of the island. Gold Rover participated in the 1986 Jamaican flood relief operations. In January 2000 she was towed back to Devonport by two RMAS tugs after breaking down off Lizard Point. 2006 was a busy year for Gold Rover. She was in Nigeria in June 2006 for the 50th anniversary celebrations of the formation of the Nigerian Navy. As part of the celebrations there was a Fleet Review by President Olusegun Obasanjo. On 6 October she, along with Royal Navy frigate HMS Argyll and Royal Marines from 40 Commando, seized more than two tonnes of cocaine during a major drugs haul off the coast of West Africa. The illegal drugs, which were found in an unregistered vessel, had a UK street value of some £60 million. Gold Rover was part of a Royal Navy amphibious task group, the VELA Deployment 06, en route to Sierra Leone where she and other ships were taking part in a major amphibious exercise. Whilst on the way to West Africa Gold Rover was contributing to the global fight against terrorism and the Royal Navy's maritime security operations activity. Gold Rover entered refit in the middle of 2013. Gold Rover departed her home port for her last operational deployment in 2014. Rover participated the 200 year celebrations of Napoleon arrival on St Helena after his capture at the Battle of Waterloo on the 12th to the 16th of October 2015 along with HMS Lancaster. In 2015, she participated in Operation UNITAS. Gold Rover will be decommissioned in 2017. Gold Rover entered Portsmouth for the final time on 22 February 2017, bowing out after 43 years of active service.


RFA Black Rover (A273)
RFA Black Rover is a small fleet tanker of the British Royal Fleet Auxiliary. She is designed to replenish ships underway at sea with fuel, fresh water, and stores in all weather conditions. She has a helicopter deck served by a stores lift and is capable of conducting helicopter replenishment. Displacing 11,500 tonnes, she is powered by twin diesels and has a ship's company of 56. Black Rover was built by Swan Hunter, being launched in 1973. She was accepted into service in 1974. In 2000, Black Rover participated in Exercise Unified Spirit 2000 and Joint Task Force Exercise (JTFEX) 01-1. The combined exercise, which took place in the waters off the US East Coast and in the Caribbean, began on 9 October and included the USS Harry S. Truman Battle Group, USS Nassau Amphibious Ready Group and 14 NATO ships from Canada, France, Germany and the United Kingdom. Only two ships from the UK participated, one being Black Rover and the other the Type 42 destroyer Cardiff. By February 2001, Black Rover set sail from Devonport Naval Base at the start of an 11-month deployment as the tanker assigned to the Atlantic patrol (south) task. Along with the destroyer Glasgow, she visited a number of ports as they sailed south and made their way to the coast of West Africa to support British forces in and around Sierra Leone. Later in 2001, the tanker crossed the Atlantic and headed even further south as she proceeded to the more traditional patrol area of the Falkland Islands. She returned home to the UK in December. Black Rover was deployed from UK in June 2005 and its tasking included assisting with post-Tsunami reconstruction and participation in multi-national exercises in the Far East as the UK's component of the Five Power Defence Arrangement. On this deployment, she was commanded by Captain K Rimell. Black Rover now has the role of Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) tanker, and in September 2006 she hosted the RFA recruitment video film crew. Black Rover’s role as FOST tanker allowed the film makers to capture many of the RFA's capabilities. The busy nature of the FOST schedule allowed the film crew to experience a wide variety of exercises and evolutions during their time on board. In 2013, Black Rover deployed to the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. Black Rover is scheduled to decommission in 2016.


Ships In Class
1. RFA Green Rover (A268) Commissioned 15th August 1969. Fate: Sold To Indonesian Navy 1992 (as KRI Arun)
2. RFA Grey Rover (A269) Commissioned 10th April 1970. Fate: Scrapped 2010
3. RFA Blue Rover (A270) Commissioned 15th July 1970. Fate: Sold To Portuguese Navy 1993 (as NRP Berrio)
4. RFA Gold Rover (A271) Commissioned 22nd March 1974. Fate: Decommissioned 6 March 2016
5. RFA Black Rover (A273) Commissioned 23 August 1974. Fate: Docked in Birkenhead since September 2016 awaiting disposal.


Specifications
Displacement:
16,160 tonnes
6,692 tonnes deadweight (DWT)
Length: 461 ft (140.5 m)
Beam: 63 ft (19.2 m)
Draught: 24 ft (7.3 m)
Propulsion:
2 × SEMT-Pielstick 16 PA 4 diesls
1 × shaft
Bow thruster
15,360 hp (11.5 MW)
Speed: 19 knots (35 km/h)
Range: 15,000 miles (24,000 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h)
Capacity: 3,000 m³ of fuel
Complement: 16 officers and 31 ratings
Sensors and processing systems: Sperry Marine Visionmaster radars and ECDIS. 1690 I band navigation radars
Electronic warfare & decoys:
2 × Corvus and 2 × Plessey Shield decoy launchers
Graseby Type 182 towed torpedo decoy
Armament:
2 × Oerlikon 20 mm guns
2 × 7.62 mm machine guns
Aircraft carried: Helicopter deck but no hangar

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SKB
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Re: Rover Class Tanker (RFA)

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GibMariner
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Re: Rover Class Tanker (RFA)

Post by GibMariner »

A Final Farewell to Simon’s town
Image
RFA Gold Rover first visited Simon’s Town, South Africa in late 2006 and ever since has been a regular visitor.

Simon’s Town has proven to be an ideal location within the area of operations to conduct maintenance, stores, personnel transfers and a perfect place for R&R, hence the many return visits.

Each port visit for Gold Rover brings her closer to her decommissioning date next year.

Over the many years of being deployed in the role of APT(S) she, and her sister ships when in the role, have visited countless ports and developed strong and lasting relationships throughout the region and in particular with the local populace of Simons Town, such that this beautiful area of South Africa has been affectionately known as our “home port” within the region.

Simon’s town is the home of the South African Navy; it is located on False Bay and only a short distance from Cape Town.

At 09:00 on Tuesday 8th November, RFA Gold Rover with flags flying from all halyards, left Simon’s town Naval Base for the final time. A prolonged blast of her ships whistle was sounded to say goodbye to the town, and its people, who have shown great hospitality to every ships company lucky enough to visit.

Gold Rover was escorted from the harbour by two naval tugs, giving her a guard of honour with a display of their fire-fighting monitors; this emotional moment was a rare display for the SA Navy to provide and was testament to the strong ties the RFA have with the area, that many of the local populace turned out to bid her farewell.
http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-la ... imons-town

marktigger
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Re: Rover Class Tanker (RFA)

Post by marktigger »

well the last rover has decomissioned. I wonder if in the future there will be an equivilent there is a need for a small tanker

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SKB
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Re: Rover Class Tanker (RFA)

Post by SKB »

A tribute to RFA Gold Rover (A271), which returned to Portsmouth on 22nd February 2017 and was decommissioned at HMNB Portsmouth on Monday 6th March 2017.

bobp
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Re: Rover Class Tanker (RFA)

Post by bobp »

Two of the Rover Class fleet have been sold to Turkey for 1.5 million

https://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/news/p ... ld-3198892

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ArmChairCivvy
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Re: Rover Class Tanker (RFA)

Post by ArmChairCivvy »

marktigger wrote: I wonder if in the future there will be an equivilent there is a need for a small tanker
NSS (draft) plan has an aux tanker in it, to supply our (and NATO) bases
- why not lease one, as has been done before?
Ever-lasting truths: Multi-year budgets/ planning by necessity have to address the painful questions; more often than not the Either-Or prevails over Both-And.
If everyone is thinking the same, then someone is not thinking (attributed to Patton)

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SKB
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Re: Rover Class Tanker (RFA)

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SKB
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Re: Rover Class Tanker (RFA)

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(Save The Royal Navy) 13 August 2019
Published on 13 Aug 2019
Ex-RFA Black Rover was towed from Portsmouth on 12th August with her sister RFA Gold Rover following on the 13th August. After more than 40 years of service to the Royal Navy they will be scrapped in Turkey. Video: PortsmouthProud.

Aethulwulf
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Re: Rover Class Tanker (RFA)

Post by Aethulwulf »

The Portuguese Navy formally decommissioned its sole auxiliary replenishment oiler NRP Berrio on 1 June.

NRP Berrio is the former RFA Blue Rover, a Falklands War veteran.

The Portuguese Navy has now lost its ability to carry out replenishment at sea, until it procures a replacement (expected 2027 - 2030).

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