Risk to forces
On the other hand, the ships have helicopter landing platforms and hangars, and the helicopters will be manned and maintained by Royal Navy personnel. If, as most Royal Fleet Auxiliaries do, they have anti- aircraft or anti-missile weapons fitted, the Royal Navy will also look after these.
Given the much reduced size of our surface fleet, there has been increasing use of Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessels in operations such as disaster relief in the Caribbean and anti-piracy operations in the Indian Ocean.
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Hide AdIn many ways, the RFAs are better in this role than some warships, especially since the Royal Navy, which pioneered the operation of helicopters from small warships such as frigates and destroyers, has always been wary of placing more than one small helicopter aboard a warship, and unlike some navies has not placed medium-sized helicopters on such vessels. Anti-piracy operations require low-tech warships, with helicopters.
The real problem is that in placing such contracts abroad, we risk destroying our ability to support our own armed forces. In the late 1930s, rearmament was hampered by the shortage of suitable shipyards with much capacity lost during the years of the Great Depression. Sadly, the situation is even worse today.
DAVID WRAGG
Stoneyflatts
South Queensferry