RFA Wave Knight

RFA Wave Knight is again deployed to the Gulf and Indian Ocean as part of the UK’s ongoing efforts to provide a tangible maritime presence in the area and reassure our allies and coalition partners.  The Gulf was recently described as the ‘engine room of the world economy’, referring to its strategic importance regarding hydrocarbon exports and reserves; its geo-political significance regarding international affairs also dominates with Iran, Iraq, and Afghanistan rarely out of the media headlines.  Furthermore, recent events in Somalia, Yemen, Bahrain, Pakistan, Israel and Kenya plus the ‘Arab Spring’ have all ensured that the region will remain in the media spot-light.  Add to this the ever-present threat from international terrorism and illegal activities such as narcotics, arms smuggling, piracy and people trafficking, our interests have broadened both in the type of activity and also the area of operations.

Our main activity is patrolling the waters and oceans described above providing afloat logistic support to the Royal Navy and a plethora of coalition warships – normally by refuelling at sea (RAS).  The RFA’s standards are high and training events take place regularly to help ensure we maintain our reputation as an example of ‘best practice’ in delivering performance and capability.  In this demanding environment, you never know what challenges will present themselves, whether it be at the fighting end of our business, countering piracy, supporting humanitarian disaster relief, medical emergencies or evacuating UK and other nationals from troubled areas.

It is a great honour to be in command of RFA Wave Knight again.  She is one of two ‘double-hulled’ fast fleet tankers replacing the highly successful ‘OL’ class at the turn of the last decade.  She is a ‘diesel-electric’ ship and, although large, is manned by a small and highly skilled civilian crew of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.  With the heightened threat of piracy, we now also have onboard our own Royal Navy Force Protection Team, ensuring that we can operate anywhere with impunity. She is a very capable ship and well suited to many tasks.  But it is ultimately the people who make the ship and who enable me to achieve these tasks. It is the vitality of these people that make serving on Wave Knight such a rewarding experience.

But none of this would be possible without the tremendous support we receive from families and friends back home as well as the administrative and technical support from our colleagues ashore.  A special thank you should also be reserved for some of our affiliations, be it Sea Cadet unit TS Fairmaid, The Worshipful Company of Fuellers, 216 Sqn RAF or our sponsor Lady Catherine Guthrie.  Thank you to all of you.