THE Navy’s vital auxiliary fleet will largely remain as it is, senior officers have ruled after a two-year review.

The Royal Fleet Auxiliary – which operates repair vessels, tankers, training ships and floating warehouses to support the RN’s global operations – has found itself increasingly fulfilling front-line roles in recent years.

Auxiliaries can currently be found conducting anti-drug operations in the Caribbean (RFA Wave Ruler) and serving as a mother ship for Iraqi Navy trainees in the Gulf (RFA Sir Bedivere).

Such roles are very different from the ones the fleet carried out two decades ago – and prompted senior officials at Fleet Headquarters in Portsmouth to look at the long-term future of the RFA.

Six options for the future auxiliary fleet were considered by top brass: do nothing; use a commercial support fleet; use a mix of commercial/RN/RFA; bring some of the RFA Fleet into the RN, notably the Bay-class landing support ships; bring the RFA entirely under RN control and manning; or go for an evolved RFA.

The Navy Board has decided that the RFA – founded in 1905 – should remain a separate service and should ‘evolve’, with RFA practices increasingly mirroring those in the Senior Service; wherever possible, training for RFA sailors will take place alongside their RN counterparts.

The “Evolved RFA’ idea has now been endorsed by the Navy Board but a lot more work is required as Fleet HQ looks to plan for an ‘afloat support fleet’ which will be capable of meeting the needs of the Royal Navy of 2020.

Maritime trade unions and all the RFA’s personnel will be consulted about any future changes to the auxiliary fleet’s structure.