RFA ''Fort George'' was a combined fleet stores ship and tanker of the

Royal Fleet Auxiliary The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) is a naval auxiliary fleet owned by the UK's Ministry of Defence. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service and provides logistical and operational support to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. The RF ...

, and one of two s. ''Fort George'' was ordered from

Swan Hunter Swan Hunter, formerly known as Swan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, is a shipbuilding design, engineering, and management company, based in Wallsend, Tyne and Wear, England. At its apex, the company represented the combined forces of three pow ...

in late 1987. The ship was laid down in 1989, launched by the wife of the Commander-in-Chief Fleet Admiral Sir

Jock Slater Admiral Sir John Cunningham Kirkwood Slater, (born 27 March 1938), known as Jock Slater, is a retired Royal Navy officer. He commanded a minesweeper, a frigate and then a destroyer before taking over the aircraft carrier and then achieving high ...

in 1991 and commissioned in 1993. Along with RFA ''Fort Victoria'', the ship was equipped with two

Phalanx CIWS The Phalanx CIWS () is an automated gun-based close-in weapon system to defend military watercraft automatically against incoming threats such as aircraft, missiles, and small boats. It was designed and manufactured by the General Dynamics Co ...

point defence A point is a small dot or the sharp tip of something. Point or points may refer to: Mathematics * Point (geometry), an entity that has a location in space or on a plane, but has no extent; more generally, an element of some abstract topologica ...

guns during a refit at

Tyne Tyne may refer to: __NOTOC__ Geography *River Tyne, England *Port of Tyne, the commercial docks in and around the River Tyne in Tyne and Wear, England * River Tyne, Scotland *River Tyne, a tributary of the South Esk River, Tasmania, Australia Peopl ...

in 1999.

Operational history

In March 2000, the ship was equipped with five

Westland Sea King The Westland WS-61 Sea King is a British licence-built version of the American Sikorsky S-61 helicopter of the same name, built by Westland Helicopters. The aircraft differs considerably from the American version, with Rolls-Royce Gnome eng ...

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

s and sent to

Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...

to help with disaster relief work following devastating floods. In May she accompanied the aircraft carrier to

Sierra Leone Sierra Leone, officially the Republic of Sierra Leone, is a country on the southwest coast of West Africa. It is bordered to the southeast by Liberia and by Guinea to the north. Sierra Leone's land area is . It has a tropical climate and envi ...

to support British operations to restore stability to that country. Late in the year, during a deployment in the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...

, the ship helped passengers of the Greek ferry '' Express Samina'' which had run aground and sunk during a storm on 26 September. In September 2009, ''Fort George'', whilst working with the

Type 23 frigate The Type 23 frigate or Duke class is a class of frigates built for the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. The ships are named after British Dukes, thus leading to the class being commonly known as the Duke class. The first Type 23, , was commission ...

, was involved in the largest ever drugs seizure to date by the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

, when 5.5 tonnes of cocaine were seized from a converted fishing vessel MV ''Cristal'' in the Atlantic Ocean off South America.

Disposal

Under the Strategic Defence and Security Review of 2010, the ship was identified for withdrawal. From March 2011 she was being stripped of stores and fittings in Liverpool, where she remained for two years. She left Liverpool on 16 January 2013 under tow destined for a Turkish ship breakers. Her sister ship, , remains in service as of 2023.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fort George (A388) Fort Victoria-class replenishment oilers 1991 ships Ships built by Swan Hunter Ships built on the River Tyne

Operational history

Disposal

See also

References