Displaying items by tag: Royal Fleet Auxiliary

12th July 2016

Large Royal Navy Supply Ship Sails in for Volvo Cork Week

One of the largest UK naval ships, RFA Fort Rosalie a tanker/supplies vessel of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary arrived to Cork Harbour this morning, to berth at Cobh where cruiseships normally occupy

#LargeUKvisitor - One of the largest UK naval vessels is at time of writing arriving into Cork Harbour this morning to coincide with Royal Cork Yacht Club’s Volvo Week, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The visit of RFA Fort Rosalie is also in the same year of the 70th anniversary of the foundation of the Irish Naval Service in 1946.

RFA Fort Rosalie (A385) is one of a pair of Fort Class Solid Support Tanker replenishment vessels of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. She along with RFA Fort Austin and the overall RFA fleet also supply food, stores and ammunition to the Royal Navy fleet, whilst underway.

Also this morning, Naval Service CPV L.É. Orla, formerly HMS Swift of the Royal Navy Hong Kong Maritime Squadron met the 185m long auxiliary vessel off the entrance to Cork Harbour.

The RFA Fort Rosalie drawing 8m draft, had sailed from the French Naval Base at Brest, is to berth at Cobh’s deepwater quay.

Opposite of Cobh is Haulbowline Island where the Irish Naval Service Base is located and where the last major commemoration event, the 50th anniversary of the navy was held this month 20 years ago. On that occasion in July 1996 several foreign navies including the Royal Navy's HMS Manchester attended the 'Jubilee' event. The highlight I recall was the Fleet Review in Cork Harbour led by flagship L.É. Eithne.

The London registered 23,384 tonnes displacement RFA Fort Rosalie earlier this year at Portsmouth Naval Base assisted harbour tugs. This concerned an opportunity to put in some practice of towing large vessels ahead of the arrival next year of the 65,000 displacement tonnes HMS Queen Elizabeth.

One of the Aircraft Carrier Alliance contractors is Babcock International which to date has built the Naval Service OPV90 trio in which newbuild LE James Joyce is expected to be delivered next month.

As for the first of a pair of ‘QE’ new aircraft carriers under construction in Scotland, HMS Queen Elizabeth is to replace HMS Illustrious (see final Dublin call previously reported on Afloat.ie) Also see report on retirement as this year the UK's MOD announced that she is to be scrapped following the fate of her two ‘Invincible’ class sisters.

RFA Fort Rosalie is nearly 100m shorter and nearly three times lighter than the new carrier and sister HMS Prince of Wales. The Fort class auxiliary tanker-supplier ship is still considerably larger than any warship currently based in Portsmouth.

On the approaches to Portsmouth off the Nab Tower, some ten miles to the entrance to the port RFA Fort Rosalie was met by privately operated tugs from Serco, the Bountiful, Indulgent and Independent. The role of tugs had previously been part of RFA operations.

RFA Fort Rosalie built in 1978 and RFA Fort Austin each has a range of 10,000 miles at 20 knots, though the top speed can be 22 knots.

The Fort class have extensive aviation facilities, with 2 flight decks, one at the stern and one spot on top of the hanger. They have the ability to replenish at sea via 6 replenishment stations, three on each side as well as using helicopters for vertical replenishment (VERTREP).

Among defences, the pair have the Phalanx system, one of the deadly last lines of defence for the UK navy. Capable of engaging targets around one mile away, it is a radar-controlled Gatling gun which fires 20mm shells, that spews out 3,000 rounds a minute.

This is designed to engage incoming enemy aircraft and missiles if they penetrated a ship or task group's outer ring of defences such as Sea Viper or Sea Dart.

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Newbuilds: Incoming 'Tide' Class for UK’s Naval Auxiliary Service

#RFAnewtankers – The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (see tanker visit to Dublin Port) have ordered a new class of replenishment tanker following a steel-cutting ceremony at Daewoo Shipbuilding and Mechanical Engineering's (DSME) Opko shipyard in South Korea.

DSME will build four of the British-designed 'Tide' class which will replace vessels including the 'Rover' class RFA Gold Rover (A271). The replacement programme is part of the UK MoD's Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability (MARS) Fleet Tanker programme. For more on this story, Ships Monthly has a report.

RFA Gold Rover's visit late last month to Dublin Port was unusual given she is a member of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, which supports Royal Naval vessels at sea by replenishing fuel, supplies and stores.

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Royal Fleet Auxiliary Replenishment Tanker On Five-Day Courtesy Call

#RFAtanker – A UK tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, RFA Gold Rover (A271) that has a supporting role in the Royal Naval, arrived into a foggy Dublin Bay to dock in the capital for a five-day courtesy visit, writes Jehan Ashmore.

The visit of RFA Gold Rover of 11,522 tonnes displacement coincides on this UK August Bank Holiday Monday and notably she is a rare visitor to an Irish port given that she is a member of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

Her visit follows another important large British naval caller when the Royal Navy's HMS Illustrious (R06) as previously reported on Afloat.ie called to the capital in April 2013. This was to be the final visit to Dublin of the former air-craft carrier which during her call was scaled down to helicopter duties. She is to be decommissioned later this month.

The 140m (461ft) long RFA Gold Rover sailed from Loch Striven Oil Fuel Depot on the Scottish west coast and understood to be under the command of Commanding Officer Shaun Jones. The crew is made up of 16 officers and 31 ratings, totalling 60 crew members.

On arrival in Dublin Bay, RFA Gold Rover took a pilot from the cutter, Camac. When within the port’s channel fairway she was greeted by the ports pair of tugs, Beaufort and Shackleton which escorted her to the Deepwater Quay Berth or ‘Coal’ Quay along the south quays.

RFA Gold Rover is the longest serving 'Rover' class remaining in RFA service since her commissioning in 1974. In that first year, she participated in evacuation duties during the partition of Cyprus when Turkey invaded the island.

The 'Rover' class represent one of the most successful tankers designed by the UK Admiralty. They were all built by Swan Hunter Shipyard of Tyne and Wear. The primary roles are to replenish Royal Naval ships at sea with fuel, oil aviation fuel, fresh water in addition to supplying dry-cargo and refrigerated stores.

RFA Gold Rover's most recent major deployment was in the South Atlantic which saw her maintain warships kept on station at sea for a two-year timeframe which was completed in 2013.

During those two years, she totalled 91,860 nautical miles since leaving Portland, Dorset and her ports of call included Gran Canarias, Ascension, St Helena and South Africa. This saw her crew rack up 7,789 man-hours on watch while refuelling and restoring RN ships on patrol duties, with food, equipment, spares, medical supplies, water and other stocks.

In April of this year, the 40 year old tanker underwent a refit at Cammell Laird Shipbuilders and Repairers in Birkenhead, though as the eldest of the fleet, her days are numbered. The ageing 'Rover' and 'Leaf' class single-hulled tankers are to be replaced by new 'Tide' class newbuilds on order from a shipyard in the Far East.

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Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta

From the Baily lighthouse to Dalkey island, the bay accommodates six separate courses for 21 different classes racing every two years for the Dun Laoghaire Regatta.

In assembling its record-breaking armada, Volvo Dun Laoghaire regatta (VDLR) became, at its second staging, not only the country's biggest sailing event, with 3,500 sailors competing, but also one of Ireland's largest participant sporting events.

One of the reasons for this, ironically, is that competitors across Europe have become jaded by well-worn venue claims attempting to replicate Cowes and Cork Week.'Never mind the quality, feel the width' has been a criticism of modern-day regattas where organisers mistakenly focus on being the biggest to be the best. Dun Laoghaire, with its local fleet of 300 boats, never set out to be the biggest. Its priority focussed instead on quality racing even after it got off to a spectacularly wrong start when the event was becalmed for four days at its first attempt.

The idea to rekindle a combined Dublin bay event resurfaced after an absence of almost 40 years, mostly because of the persistence of a passionate race officer Brian Craig who believed that Dun Laoghaire could become the Cowes of the Irish Sea if the town and the local clubs worked together. Although fickle winds conspired against him in 2005, the support of all four Dun Laoghaire waterfront yacht clubs since then (made up of Dun Laoghaire Motor YC, National YC, Royal Irish YC and Royal St GYC), in association with the two racing clubs of Dublin Bay SC and Royal Alfred YC, gave him the momentum to carry on.

There is no doubt that sailors have also responded with their support from all four coasts. Running for four days, the regatta is (after the large mini-marathons) the single most significant participant sports event in the country, requiring the services of 280 volunteers on and off the water, as well as top international race officers and an international jury, to resolve racing disputes representing five countries. A flotilla of 25 boats regularly races from the Royal Dee near Liverpool to Dublin for the Lyver Trophy to coincide with the event. The race also doubles as a RORC qualifying race for the Fastnet.

Sailors from the Ribble, Mersey, the Menai Straits, Anglesey, Cardigan Bay and the Isle of Man have to travel three times the distance to the Solent as they do to Dublin Bay. This, claims Craig, is one of the major selling points of the Irish event and explains the range of entries from marinas as far away as Yorkshire's Whitby YC and the Isle of Wight.

No other regatta in the Irish Sea area can claim to have such a reach. Dublin Bay Weeks such as this petered out in the 1960s, and it has taken almost four decades for the waterfront clubs to come together to produce a spectacle on and off the water to rival Cowes."The fact that we are getting such numbers means it is inevitable that it is compared with Cowes," said Craig. However, there the comparison ends."We're doing our own thing here. Dun Laoghaire is unique, and we are making an extraordinary effort to welcome visitors from abroad," he added. The busiest shipping lane in the country – across the bay to Dublin port – closes temporarily to facilitate the regatta and the placing of six separate courses each day.

A fleet total of this size represents something of an unknown quantity on the bay as it is more than double the size of any other regatta ever held there.

Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta FAQs

What is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is Ireland's biggest sailing event. It is held every second Summer at Dun Laoghaire Harbour on Dublin Bay.

When is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is held every two years, typically in the first weekend of July.

Where is Dun Laoghaire Regatta held?

As its name suggests, the event is based at Dun Laoghaire Harbour. Racing is held on Dublin Bay over as many as six different courses with a coastal route that extends out into the Irish Sea. Ashore, the festivities are held across the town but mostly in the four organising yacht clubs.

How big is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is the largest sailing regatta in Ireland and on the Irish Sea and the second largest in the British Isles. It has a fleet of 500 competing boats and up to 3,000 sailors. Scotland's biggest regatta on the Clyde is less than half the size of the Dun Laoghaire event. After the Dublin city marathon, the regatta is one of the most significant single participant sporting events in the country in terms of Irish sporting events.

How old is Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

The modern Dublin Bay Regatta began in 2005, but it owes its roots to earlier combined Dublin Bay Regattas of the 1960s.

How many boats compete at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Up to 500 boats regularly compete.

How many yacht clubs are represented at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Up to 70 different yacht clubs are represented.

Where do the yachts come from to compete at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

The Channel Islands, Isle of Man, England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, Ireland countrywide, and Dublin clubs.

How many boats are visiting boats at Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Nearly half the sailors, over 1,000, travel to participate from outside of Dun Laoghaire and from overseas to race and socialise in Dun Laoghaire.

What type of yachts race in Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

21 different classes are competing at Dun Laoghaire Regatta. As well as four IRC Divisions from 50-footers down to 20-foot day boats and White Sails, there are also extensive one-design keelboat and dinghy fleets to include all the fleets that regularly race on the Bay such as Beneteau 31.7s, Ruffian 23s, Sigma 33s as well as Flying Fifteens, Laser SB20s plus some visiting fleets such as the RS Elites from Belfast Lough to name by one.

What famous sailors race in Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Some sailing household names are regular competitors at the biennial Dun Laoghaire event including Dun Laoghaire Olympic silver medalist, Annalise Murphy. International sailing stars are competing too such as Mike McIntyre, a British Olympic Gold medalist and a raft of World and European class champions.

How much does it cost to enter Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

There are different entry fees for different size boats. A 40-foot yacht will pay up to €550, but a 14-foot dinghy such as Laser will pay €95. Full entry fee details are contained in the Regatta Notice of Race document.

Where can spectators view Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

Spectators can see the boats racing on six courses from any vantage point on the southern shore of Dublin Bay. As well as from the Harbour walls itself, it is also possible to see the boats from Sandycove, Dalkey and Killiney, especially when the boats compete over inshore coastal courses or have in-harbour finishes.

How does Dun Laoghaire regatta compare to international regattas?

Very favourably. It is often compared to Cowes, Britain's biggest regatta on the Isle of Wight that has 1,000 entries. However, sailors based in the north of England have to travel three times the distance to get to Cowes as they do to Dun Laoghaire.

Why is Dun Laoghaire Regatta so unique?

Dun Laoghaire Regatta is unique because of its compact site offering four different yacht clubs within the harbour and the race tracks' proximity, just a five-minute sail from shore. International sailors also speak of its international travel connections and being so close to Dublin city. The regatta also prides itself on balancing excellent competition with good fun ashore.

Who organises Dun Laoghaire Regatta?

The Organising Authority (OA) of Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta is Dublin Bay Regattas Ltd, a not-for-profit company, beneficially owned by Dun Laoghaire Motor Yacht Club (DMYC), National Yacht Club (NYC), Royal Irish Yacht Club (RIYC) and Royal St George Yacht Club (RSGYC).

What does Dun Laoghaire Regatta contribute to the local economy?

The Irish Marine Federation launched a case study on the 2009 Volvo Dun Laoghaire Regatta's socio-economic significance. Over four days, the study (carried out by Irish Sea Marine Leisure Knowledge Network) found the event was worth nearly €3million to the local economy over the four days of the event. Typically the Royal Marine Hotel and Haddington Hotel and other local providers are fully booked for the event.