Fleet Support Limited (FSL) is a British company formed to run

HMNB Portsmouth His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is lo ...

's Fleet Maintenance and Repair Organisation (FMRO) on a commercial basis. The FMRO was an agency of the

Ministry of Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in state ...

responsible for repair and maintenance of

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

vessels. FSL performs this task but also undertakes commercial work such as shiprepair, refitting, conversion and hull fabrication. FSL also carries out heavy engineering work and

nondestructive testing Nondestructive testing (NDT) is any of a wide group of analysis techniques used in science and technology industry to evaluate the properties of a material, component or system without causing damage. The terms nondestructive examination (NDE), n ...

for the marine and engineering sectors.

History

FSL was founded as a joint venture between

Vosper Thornycroft VT Group is a privately held United States defense and services company, with its origins in a former British shipbuilding group, previously known as Vosper Thornycroft. The British part of VT Group was integrated into Babcock International in t ...

(now

VT Group VT Group is a privately held United States defense and services company, with its origins in a former British shipbuilding group, previously known as Vosper Thornycroft. The British part of VT Group was integrated into Babcock International in t ...

) and GEC-Marconi. GEC's 50% share passed to its successor

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenue ...

in 1999. In July 2008 BAE Systems and VT Group merged their military shipbuilding businesses to form

BVT Surface Fleet BVT may refer to: * The Bobby Van Trust, a group of charities that improve home security in the UK * BVT Surface Fleet, former name of BAE Systems Maritime – Naval Ships, British naval shipbuilding company * Bandwidth-variable transponder, a type ...

. This included FSL, which was rebranded as BVT Surface Fleet Support Limited. In 2009 this became

BAE Systems Surface Ships BAE Systems plc (BAE) is a British multinational arms, security, and aerospace company based in London, England. It is the largest defence contractor in Europe, and ranked the seventh-largest in the world based on applicable 2021 revenues. ...

, with complete ownership passing to BAE Systems and the company being renamed BAE Systems Surface Ships Support Limited. In January 2012, BAE Systems Surface Ships Support was restructured, joining with parts of Insyte to become BAE Systems Maritime - Maritime Services. A Biber German

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

midget submarine A midget submarine (also called a mini submarine) is any submarine under 150 tons, typically operated by a crew of one or two but sometimes up to six or nine, with little or no on-board living accommodation. They normally work with mother ships, ...

on display at the

Royal Navy Submarine Museum The Royal Navy Submarine Museum at Gosport is a maritime museum tracing the international history of submarine development from the age of Alexander the Great to the present day, and particularly the history of the Royal Navy Submarine Servic ...

was restored to working condition by apprentices from Fleet Support Limited on a

sandwich course A sandwich degree, or sandwich course, is an academic degree or higher education course (also known as tertiary education) involving practical work experience in addition to academic study. The work experience is often referred as an industrial pla ...

in 2003 under the guidance of Ian Clark. The restoration featured on Channel 4's salvage squad.

References

External links

Fleet Support Group
on

Bloomberg L.P. Bloomberg L.P. is a privately held financial, software, data, and media company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was co-founded by Michael Bloomberg in 1981, with Thomas Secunda, Duncan MacMillan, Charles Zegar, and a 1 ...

BAE Systems subsidiaries and divisions Companies established in 1996 BAE Systems facilities Companies based in Portsmouth {{UK-company-stub