20th June 2024 at 2:40pm
HMS Tamar berthed alongside the USS Emory S Land and the Australian survey ship HMAS Leeuwin (Picture: Royal Navy)
HMS Tamar has successfully berthed alongside a US Navy submarine support ship in an experimental link-up which could see the Royal Navy vessel extend her operations.
Tamar, an offshore patrol vessel, used the USS Emory S Land not just as a floating quayside or jetty, but also ‘plugged in’ to the vessel’s fuel, water and power supply.
The process known as rafting up also involved a third ship, the Australian survey vessel HMAS Leeuwin, as the trio of ships linked up in Cairns in Queensland.
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The US Navy’s Emory S Land acts as a tender, normally providing forward support to US Navy hunter-killer nuclear submarines.
When no naval base is available, she sustains operations, providing electricity, water, consumables, spare parts, repairs and engineering assistance.
She also sustains their crews, offering medical and dental aid, mail, food and administration.
The UK does the same for the Royal Navy and US minehunters rather than submarines – operating in the Gulf, using RFA Cardigan Bay to provide similar facilities to mine warfare vessels, extending their operations.
The Royal Navy said: “All three allied navies were keen to see whether the Emory S Land could do for larger surface vessels what it already does for the Silent Service.”
HMS Tamar is seven times smaller than the tender, and as both vessels were new to each other this was not simply a case of Tamar turning up and berthing alongside the US ship.
The three navies used scale drawings and extensive discussions to make sure the link-up of the three ships passed without incident.
Once Tamar was safely berthed, she was joined outboard by Australian survey ship HMAS Leeuwin.
Connections were subsequently made to prove that fuel, water and electricity could be provided to both ships from the US tender.
In April, HMS Tamar was in Fiji where she had been helping the local government curb illegal fishing and drug smuggling.
The River-class patrol vessel was working with the Fijian Ministry of Fisheries, the Republic of Fiji Navy Ship Riders and the Royal New Zealand Navy.
HMS Tamar can perform a variety of roles, from intercepting drug-traffickers and smugglers to protecting UK territorial waters and providing humanitarian assistance in the wake of a disaster.
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