RFA Diligence

[Repulse]

Unfortunately it seems her situation has recently deteriorated somewhat.

Nothing short of criminal. If the RN and the broader armed forces cannot value what they have then the argument to give them more / new kit is much harder.

Now we can proceed to discuss the functions; how they are to be covered (if at all) in the future
- is forward basing the 100% answer?

Depends what functions -
a) Hunt/Sandown / USV MCM mothership for the Gulf, then yes it should be forward based.
b) Emergency rescue / repair for SSNs and other CSG/LRG assets then possibly, but a vessel like Diligence must be part of the mix IMO, as they’ll be times when forward basing isn’t an option due to geography and politics.

[SW1]

It’s interesting that these sort of fwd support ships appear to be making a bit of a comeback in a slightly different configuration with probably not such a focus on the damage repair.