RFA ''Black Rover'' was a Rover-class small fleet tanker of the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

Royal Fleet Auxiliary The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) is a naval auxiliary fleet owned by the UK's Ministry of Defence. It provides logistical and operational support to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. The RFA ensures the Royal Navy is supplied and supported by ...

. She was designed to replenish ships underway at sea with

fuel A fuel is any material that can be made to react with other substances so that it releases energy as thermal energy or to be used for work. The concept was originally applied solely to those materials capable of releasing chemical energy but ...

, fresh water, and stores in all weather conditions. She had a

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attributes ...

deck served by a stores lift and was capable of conducting helicopter replenishment. Displacing 16,160 tonnes, she was powered by twin diesels and has a ship's company of 60.

History

''Black Rover'' was launched by

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 powe ...

on 30 August 1973 and was accepted into service the following year. She was in refit in Rosyth during the Falklands Conflict and took no part in the efforts to liberate the islands. ''Black Rover'' was deployed from UK in June 2005 and its tasking included assisting with post-tsunami reconstruction and participation in multi-national exercises in the

Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The ter ...

as the UK's component of the Five Power Defence Arrangement. In 2006 she was the Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) tanker, and in September she hosted the RFA recruitment video film crew. Her role as FOST tanker allowed the film makers to capture many of the RFA's capabilities. The busy nature of the FOST schedule allowed the film crew to experience a wide variety of exercises and evolutions during their time on board. In 2013, ''Black Rover'' deployed to the Falkland Islands and South Georgia. ''Black Rover'' was scheduled to decommission in 2016 however she never returned to sea under her own power after docking in Birkenhead in September 2015.

Disposal

In March 2017, after 18 months alongside in Birkenhead, ''Black Rover'' was towed to Portsmouth. On 29 August 2017 the Defence Equipment Sales Authority (DESA) invited expressions of interest from companies interested in receiving an invitation to tender in respect to the proposed sale for the sole purpose of recycling of the former RFA ship. She departed Portsmouth under tow on 11 August and arrived at Aliaga on 1 September 2019. Scrapping was completed on 20 January 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Black Rover Ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Tankers of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Rover-class tankers 1973 ships Ships built by Swan Hunter Ships built on the River Tyne