RFA Fort Victoria
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| History | |
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 United Kingdom
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| Name: | RFA Fort Victoria |
| Namesake: | Fort Victoria (Isle of Wight) |
| Ordered: | 23 April 1986 |
| Builder: | Harland & Wolff, Belfast, United Kingdom |
| Laid down: | 15 September 1988 |
| Launched: | 4 May 1990 |
| Commissioned: | 24 June 1994 |
| Identification: |
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| Status: | in active service |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Fort Victoria-class replenishment oiler |
| Displacement: | 31,565 t (31,066 long tons) full load |
| Length: | 203.9 m (669 ft 0 in) |
| Beam: | 30.4 m (99 ft 9 in) |
| Draught: | 9.7 m (31 ft 10 in) |
| Propulsion: | 2 × Crossley-Pielstick V16 medium speed diesels, 2 shafts, 25,083 bhp (18,704 kW) |
| Speed: | 20 knots (37 km/h) |
| Capacity: |
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| Complement: |
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| Armament: |
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| Aviation facilities: |
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RFA Fort Victoria is a Fort-class combined fleet stores ship and tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary of the United Kingdom tasked with providing ammunition, fuel, food and other supplies to Royal Navy vessels around the world.
Fort Victoria was ordered from Harland and Wolff in 1986, and was launched in 1990. She is named after Fort Victoria on the Isle of Wight.
On 6 September 1990, while Fort Victoria was at dock and less than three months after being christened, a Provisional IRA unit planted two explosive devices on board. After a telephone warning from the IRA, one of the bombs exploded, causing extensive damage inside the engine room, which was holed and subsequently flooded. The ship listed 45 degrees, and the chances of sinking were high. The situation was under control after hours of work by emergency teams, which pumped the water out of the engine room. Sir John Parker, the shipbuilder, praised the courage of the engineers for saving the ship. It was not learned that a second device had failed to explode until a second IRA phone call 24 hours later. It took two weeks to find and disable the second bomb, which stalled the works further.
This incident and other problems with the construction of the vessel meant it was not delivered until 1993, two years after originally planned. In 1998, the ship was fitted with the Phalanx CIWS.
She was accepted into service on 24 June 1994.
The vessel took part in Operation Telic during early 2003.
Fort Victoria was adopted by the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and has been affiliated with the borough for over ten years. A battle ensign was presented to the borough in 2003 following the vessel's participation in military operations in the Persian Gulf. The ensign can be seen in the foyer of Barnsley Town Hall.
With her ability to supply anything from humanitarian supplies to fuel and ammunition, Fort Victoria has uses in peacetime and war. An example of this was the 2006 conflict in Lebanon, where she played a key role in supplying the Royal Navy and giving air support with a flight of Merlin MK1 helicopters from 814 squadron.
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Wikipedia