A one-stop replenishment ship

A somewhat belated Happy New Year to all our readers! Apart from the UXB (see above) the Sound has been comparatively quiet since the tanker RFA Tideforce and Frigate HMS St Albans sailed on Friday 19th December. It is public knowledge now that Tideforce was in support of the US Coast Guard forces involved in the capture of the Russian-flagged Venezuelan oil-carrying tanker Marinera (Bella I before she was re-flagged).

There were no naval movements between until Wednesday 7th Jan, when HMS Portland sailed. She has been in and around the Sound since. The first foreign warship of the year was FGS Saschen, last seen here when she completed her training with FOST last July. She is not under FOST’s OPCON (operational
Control) and is probably just using the local training assets and areas before deploying.

Meanwhile the largest ship in the German Navy – the Bonn – a one-stop replenishment ship (so carrying fuel, food, spares and ammunition) arrived on this week (Wednesday Jan 14). She is presently alongside in Devonport and my guess is that she will be deploying with Saschen.