RFA Fort Austin
,_West_Float,_Birkenhead_(geograph_4555449).jpg)
RFA Fort Austin at West Float, Birkenhead, in July 2015
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| History | |
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 United Kingdom
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| Name: | RFA Fort Austin |
| Ordered: | November 1971 |
| Builder: | Scott Lithgow |
| Laid down: | 9 December 1975 |
| Launched: | 9 March 1978 |
| Commissioned: | 11 May 1979 |
| Identification: | Pennant number: A386 |
| Status: | Active 2014 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Fort Rosalie-class replenishment ship |
| Displacement: | 23,482 tonnes |
| Length: | 185.1 m (607 ft 3 in) |
| Beam: | 24 m (78 ft 9 in) |
| Draught: | 9 m (29 ft 6 in) |
| Propulsion: | Sulzer 8-cylinder RND90 22,300 shp |
| Speed: | 21 knots (38.9 km/h) |
| Complement: |
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| Armament: |
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| Service record | |
| Operations: | |
RFA Fort Austin is a British Fort Rosalie-class dry stores ship of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.
Fort Austin was laid down at Scott Lithgow in 1975, launched in 1978 and commissioned in 1979. These ships were designed to carry a wide range of dry stores to support fleet task forces; ammunition, food, explosives. They have extensive aviation facilities, with two flight decks, one to the stern and one spot on top of the hangar, up to four Sea Kings can be stored in the large hangar. These ships also have the capability to replenish ships at sea, via six RAS points.
When the Falklands War began, the ship was deployed in the western Mediterranean for the annual Spring Train exercise, and received orders to head south, taking part in the landings at San Carlos Water as a stores and ammunition ship. When the order to head south was given, several warships had the WE.177A nuclear weapon deployed aboard. Amongst these were the Type 22 frigates HMS Broadsword and HMS Brilliant and the aircraft carriers HMS Hermes and HMS Invincible. Some newspaper reports also named RFA Fort Austin. The Ministry of Defence explored various options to transfer these nuclear weapons from the frigates to the safety of the deep magazines aboard Fort Austin, Hermes and Invincible. An MoD publication describes a complex series of manoeuvres to avoid the presence of these nuclear warheads in areas that would break the UK obligation to the Treaty of Tlatelolco, often referred to as the Latin-America Nuclear Free Zone. In no circumstances could ships carrying nuclear weapons enter territorial waters around the Falkland Islands. After the conflict ended, weapons were transferred at sea to the two RFAs Fort Austin and Resource for transport back to the UK.
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