Royan Navy, The project to procure a class of four Landing Ship Dock (Auxiliary) has sailed through two important milestones recently, with Mounts Bay becoming the first of class to begin sea trials and Lyme Bay joining the other three in the water after being successfully floated out onto the Tyne.
Mounts Bay, constructed by BAE Systems Naval Ships at their yards on the Clyde has, after an intensive five-month period of fitting out, become the first of the class to leave the yard under its own power.
She sailed from Scotstoun on 8 September 2005, leaving the Clyde to begin her stage one sea trials – scheduled to last 10 days. The stage one trials cover the basic operation of the ship and exhaustive tests are carried out to make sure she is up to standard and to identify any areas requiring work.
LSD(A) team leader, Steve Rayner said:
“Each of the 16,000 tonne Bay Class are hugely complex pieces of machinery, and before we can trust them to perform in a military situation they must prove that their basic functions are all operating up to par.
“Over the 10 day period the trials cover the basic operation of the ship – testing her thrusters, her manoeuvrability, emergency procedures, anchorage, speed and steering among other things.
“It is vital to get the basics absolutely right before we can accept her and begin the much more detailed and demanding military trials.”
After the trials Mounts Bay has a six week period when BAE Systems will go over the findings and address any issues they raised. Following that she will be officially handed over to the MoD in time for stage two trials which will test her military capabilities to the limit.
For the trials Mounts Bay was crewed by a combination of BAE, Swan Hunter, RFA and MoD personnel under the captaincy of Captain Ross Ferris RFA.
Meanwhile, at the Swan Hunter yard on the Tyne, Newcastle, where two of the class of four are also under construction, another significant milestone has been reached with RFA Lyme Bay now joining her sister ship Largs Bay, in the water.
Although she is now in the waters of the Tyne, Lyme Bay was not 'launched' in the traditional sense. Instead she was carefully floated out, with the dock she was held in flooded with water until her weight was supported and she could be moved into the river.
And now the last of the class is in the water, the task of 'fitting-out' internally can continue. Thousands of pipes and mile upon mile of cable need to be fitted and tested and the entire interior of the ship needs to be put together.
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