RFA ''Sea Crusader'' was a fast
sealift ship chartered to Britain's
Royal Fleet Auxiliary between 1996 and 2003 and subsequently in commercial service with Cobelfret on North Sea routes as MV ''Celestine''. She was described by the RFA as a "Strategic Lift
Ro-Ro".
Background
In the mid-1990s the British Ministry of Defence identified a need for sealift ships to support the new Joint Rapid Deployment Force (JRDF, subsequently the
Joint Rapid Reaction Force
The Joint Rapid Reaction Force (JRRF) was a capability concept of the British Armed Forces from 1999 to 2010. It was a pool of specialised units from all three armed services tasked with rapid deployment worldwide at short notice. The force was int ...
). This requirement would ultimately be met by the construction of six
Point-class sealift ship
The Point class is a class of six roll-on/roll-off sealift ships originally procured under a Private Finance Initiative to be available for use as naval auxiliaries to the British armed forces. Two of the ships have now been released from the co ...
s in 2002–3, but the charter of two commercial ships was approved as an interim measure.
Description
''Sea Crusader''/''Celestine'' is the lead ship of a class of six vehicle carriers of 23,986
GT. She is long and powered by two MAN B&W 7L40/54 diesels of 6,690 shp each. She can carry 654 cars and 157 trailers
History
Kawasaki Heavy Industries built MV ''Celestine'' at
Sakaide
270px, Sakaide City Hall
270px, Aerial view of Sakaide city center
is a city located in Kagawa Prefecture, Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 49,439 in 21347 households and a population density of and a population density of 530 p ...
shipyard, Japan in 1996. In October of that year the RFA took the newly built ship on a two-year charter from Oceanarrow (UK) Ltd as RFA ''Sea Crusader''.
She would be joined by
RFA ''Sea Centurion'' in October 1998.
The original intention was that ''Sea Crusader'' would be replaced by the charter of a new-build sister ship to ''Sea Centurion'', but construction problems with the ''Sea Chieftain'' led to the charter of the ''Sea Crusader'' being extended
until 1 March 2003.
she is serving the
Purfleet and
Immingham
Immingham is a town, civil parish and ward in the North East Lincolnshire unitary authority of England. It is situated on the south-west bank of the Humber Estuary, and is north-west from Grimsby.
The region was relatively unpopulated and un ...
routes to
Zeebrugge for
Cobelfret Ferries under a Belgian flag, homeported in Antwerp.
References
Ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary
1996 ships
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