| The first of the Royal Navy’s
new class of amphibious landing ship has taken to the water
for the first time.
RFA Largs Bay has been floated out of the dock in which she
was built by Swan Hunter and out into the waters of the Tyne.
It was a big moment for Swan Hunter – Largs Bay is
the first ship to be built on the Tyne in ten years –
and for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, anxious to receive into
service the first of four ships of a new and very capable
class.
The 16,000-ton landing ship was built in sections over the
past two years, and assembled in the floating dock.
As such, there was no conventional dynamic launch down a
slipway. Instead, Lars Bay entered the water when the dock
was flooded down, and the high tide lifted her clear, to be
towed out and berthed alongside the jetty.
The floating-out operation took around four hours, from the
initial flooding to the tide rising to the required level
and the delicate manoeuvre, with tugs, to move her alongside.
RFA Largs Bay – officially designated a Landing Ship
Dock (Auxiliary) or LSDA – is a large amphibious landing
ship designed to deploy troops and their vehicles and equipment
directly into operational areas.
She and her three sisters have a large stern internal docking
area to enable landing craft to load up, and a large flight
deck area to operate all types of Royal Navy, RAF and Army
helicopters.
Along with RFAs Lyme Bay, Cardigan Bay and Mounts Bay, she
will play an integral part of future Amphibious Task Groups,
working alongside Royal Navy ships such as HMS Ocean and the
new amphibious assault ships HM ships Albion and Bulwark.
All four of the Bay-class ships are expected to be in service
with the RFA by 2005.
Largs Bay is due to be officially named at a ceremony taking
place at Swan Hunter’s yard at Wallsend-on-Tyne on Friday
August 1. She will then be fitted out and on completion of
that phase her sea trials will begin.
The four new LSDAs will eventually replace the current RFA
landing ships Sir Galahad, Sir Percivale, Sir Tristram and
Sir Geraint. |
