RFA Fort Victoria returns to UK after two-year deployment

RFA Fort Victoria has arrived back in the UK after more than two years away.

The auxiliary ship arrived in Crombie, Fife, to be greeted by the head of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, Commodore Duncan Lamb.

“During an eventful and often hectic operational deployment Fort Victoria has provided a consistently high level of support to UK and coalition partners displaying capability and versatility in both the Mediterranean and Arabian Gulf theatres of operations,” he said.

During her 26-month deployment, Fort Victoria carried out a total of 150 underway replenishment operations, issuing 58,634 cubic metres of F76 diesel – enough to fill one million average family saloons, 1,669 cubic metres of F44 aviation fuel, enough to fill a 747 jumbo jet seven times, and transferred 617 pallets of various stores, ranging from ice cream to ammunition.

She spent the majority of her time East of Suez in support of coalition forces’ counter piracy and counter narcotics operations.

She was also called upon to re-deploy to the Aegean Sea between March and May last year in order to provide assistance and additional assets to operations taking place in the region.

In March this year Fort Victoria’s embarked Sea King helicopter played a vital role in the location and seizure of a drug-running dhow.

These actions resulted in a US boarding team apprehending the suspect vessel and successfully locating 278 kg of pure heroin. This drug haul, if distributed, would have been worth upwards of £40m on the streets of the UK.

Fort Victoria will now undergo a period of maintenance, equipment upgrades and modifications, which will enable the ship, together with the Tide-class tankers, to operate in support of HMS Queen Elizabeth when she enters service later this year.