Bay class landing ship

Class overview
RFA Mounts Bay leaving Portsmouth
Builders:	Swan Hunter and BAE Systems Naval Ships
Operators:	Royal Fleet Auxiliary Royal Australian Navy
Preceded by:	Round Table class
Cost:	£596m programme cost; BAE ships cost £127m each
Built:	28 January 2002-26 November 2007
In commission:	13 July 2006-present
Completed:	4
Active:	4
General characteristics
Type:	Landing ship dock
Displacement:	16,160 tonnes (15,900 long tons; 17,810 short tons)
Length:	579.4 ft (176.6 m)
Beam:	86.6 ft (26.4 m)
Draught:	19 ft (5.8 m)
Propulsion:	2 × Wärtsilä 8L26 generators, 6,000 hp (4.5 MW) 2 × Wärtsilä 12V26 generators, 9,000 hp (6.7 MW) 2 × azimuthing thusters 1 × bow thruster
Speed:	18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Range:	8,000 nmi (15,000 km; 9,200 mi) at 15 kn (28 km/h; 17 mph)
Boats & landing craft carried:	1 × LCU or 2 × LCVP in well deck 2 × Mexeflote powered rafts
Capacity:	1,150 linear metres (vehicles) 200 tons or 24 TEU (cargo)
Troops:	356 (standard), 700 (overload)
Crew:	70 (RFA, core only), 158 (RAN)
Armament:	Fitted for: 2 × 30mm DS30B cannon 2 × Phalanx CIWS 4 × 7.62mm Mk44 Miniguns 6 × 7.62mm L7 GPMG Individual outfit varies across class
Aviation facilities:	Flight deck for helicopters up to Chinook-size
Notes:	Derivative of the Enforcer ship design

The Bay class is a ship class of four dock landing ships built for the British Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) during the 2000s. They are based on the Dutch-Spanish Royal Schelde Enforcer design and intended as a replacement for the Round Table-class logistics ships. Two ships each were ordered from Swan Hunter and BAE Systems Naval Ships. Construction work started in 2002, but saw major delays and cost overruns, particularly at Swan Hunter's shipyard. In mid-2006, Swan Hunter was stripped of work, and the incomplete second ship was towed to BAE's shipyard for completion. All four ships, Largs Bay, Lyme Bay, Mounts Bay, and Cardigan Bay had entered service by 2007.

Since entering service, the Bay-class ships have been used for amphibious operations, training of the Iraqi Navy in the Persian Gulf, counter-drug deployments in the Caribbean, and relief operations following the 2010 Haiti earthquake. In 2010, Largs Bay was removed from service as part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review. She was sold to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in 2011, who operate her as HMAS Choules.

The Bay class was designed as a replacement for the five Round Table-class logistics ships operated by the RFA. Planning for the class began in the 1990s, after the original intent to modernise and extend the service life of three Round Tables ran into problems with extensive corrosion and problems implementing new safety standards. After the first Round Table returned to service two years late and after excessive cost, the Ministry of Defence began to investigate the acquisition of new ships.

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