The second of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary’s new Tide-class support ships, RFA Tiderace, has arrived in Cornwall to begin a programme of customisation.
Like her sister ship RFA Tidespring, which arrived in April this year, the 39,000-tonne RFA Tiderace can carry up to 19,000 cubic metres of fuel and 1,400 cubic metres of fresh water in support of Royal Navy operations all over the world.
She has been designed to support the new Queen Elizabeth Class Aircraft Carriers, the first of which, HMS Queen Elizabeth, arrived in Portsmouth in August.
The customisation work in Falmouth, which will install armour, self-defence weaponry and communications systems, will help to support 300 local jobs.
The process is expected to take around four months before the vessel begins a round of final sea trials before entering service next year.
Meanwhile, RFA Tidespring is expected to finish final sea trials in the coming weeks and enter service before the end of this year.
The UK work content in the Tide Class programme as a whole, is worth around £150 million, sustaining further jobs at 27 UK-based companies.
Minister for Defence Procurement Harriett Baldwin said: “This year of the Royal Navy goes from strength to strength as we welcome yet another new ship into the UK’s growing fleet.
“It’s great to see RFA Tiderace join her sister ship RFA Tidespring in the UK today, and I would like to thank the Falmouth team for their important work.”
image © Crown Copyright 2017
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