RFA Tiderace visits St Peter Port in Guernsey

Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) Tanker RFA Tiderace will be anchored off St Peter Port Guernsey for the next couple of days.

Currently RFA Tiderace is operating in a dual role as the Fleet Operational Sea Training, (FOST) tanker, supporting training of Royal Navy and other NATO Ships in the south coast exercise areas, and the Fleet Ready Tanker in support of United Kingdom tasking around the whole of the country.

RFA Tiderace is the second of four Tide-class and was welcomed into service with the RFA during August 2018 by Lady Anita Lister, the ship’s sponsor. At 201 metres in length 29m breadth and a draught of 10.4m, RFA Tiderace can carry up to 19000 cubic metres of issuable fuel, a combination of aviation fuel and diesel for ships’ engines. It’s of note, the average road tanker carries 20-40 cubic metres of fuel.

Designed to support the Royal Navy at sea and in particular the Queen Elizabeth Class (QEC) aircraft carrier, RFA Tiderace can transfer fuel at a rate of up to 1500 cubic metres per hour using two replenishment rigs which are on the starboard side of the vessel and set to align perfectly with the QEC.

The Tide-class also has a flight deck designed to accept all UK maritime helicopters currently in service plus the CH 47 Chinook. Self-defence is provided by close range weaponry such as General-Purpose Machine Guns and Miniguns. For more robust defence the ship is fitted with 30 mm canons and can be fitted with the Phalanx Close in Weapon System (CIWS) for protection against anti-ship missiles.

The tanker has 75-85 RFA personnel, who run the ship from the various disciplines of bridge watchkeeping and operations, communications, marine and systems engineering and logistics, which include catering services, stewarding and supply chain management.

This crew is sufficient to deliver all the key capabilities of Replenishment at Sea (RAS), helicopter operations and self-defence using the close-range weapons only. For more complex or persistent operations RFA Tiderace can be supplemented by Royal Navy teams to fill specialist roles or for specialist skills such as CIWS maintenance.

RFA Tiderace Commanding Officer, Captain Simon Herbert RFA, said: It is an honour and a privilege for RFA Tiderace to be able to conduct a short unofficial visit to Guernsey and St Peter Port. My ship’s company and I very much looking forward to spending some time ashore and enjoying the wide variety of activities that the island has to offer.

“RFA Tiderace is the Royal Navy’s high readiness Auxiliary Tanker with a specific role in safeguarding the UKs territorial waters and I am hugely grateful to the Local Authorities and Guernsey Ports for their support in our visit which emphasises the deep and long relationship between the Islands and the Royal Navy/Royal Fleet Auxiliary.”