Rover Class Small Fleet Tankers

Smaller than the Ol Cass Fast Fleet Tankers, the Rover Class Small Fleet Tankers are designed specifically to supply Royal Navy frigates or small groups of warships (rather than large taskgroups) with fuel and lubricants, although they can also provide limited amounts of fresh water, dry stores, refrigerated food and munitions. Each vessel has the capacity to carry somewhere in the region of 22,000 cubic metres of diesel and 3,800 cubic metres of aviation fuel. They are able to transfer these supplies by a pair of replenishment rigs situated forward of the main superstructure. They have a helicopter deck capable of supporting a Sea King or Lynx helicopter (usually from another warship and used for transfer of dry stores) but have no hanger.

The class originally consisted of five vessels that entered service between 1969 and 1974. However, Green Rover and Blue Rover have since been withdrawn from service. More recently, the remaining Rover Class tankers have been deployed for long periods of time (often as long as two years) in support of Guard Ships in the West Indies and South Atlantic. They have also been assigned to Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST), refulling warships training off Portland and later Plymouth.

The Rover Class are 140.3 metres long with a beam of 19.2 metres and a 7.3 metre draught. They have a complement of 56, including 18 officers and when fully loaded they displace 11,522 tonnes. The original Ruston engines of were replaced with the more reliable Crossley-Pielstick diesel engines which produce a speed of 19 knots. Maneuverability is provided by bow thrusters.

Ship:	Pennant Number	Flight Deck Code	Builder	Launched	Comissioned
Green Rover	A268	GN	Swan Hunter		August 15th 1969
Grey Rover	A269	GY	Swan Hunter		April 10th 1970
Blue Rover	A270	BE	Swan Hunter		July 15th 1970
Gold Rover	A271	GV	Swan Hunter	March 7th 1973	March 24th 1974
Black Rover	A273	BV	Swan Hunter		August 23rd 1974

Above: RFA Grey Rover (A269) in frozen waters. The tanker is passing the 258ft Nordenskjold Glacier during a two year deployment to the South Atlantic.Thanks to Tommy Sands of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary- Unofficallly! website for allowing me to use this picture.

Ship	History
Blue Rover	When the Falklands crisis erupted in 1982, Blue Rover returned to Portsmouth and supplied other warships heading south, before leaving herself on April 16th. Sold to Portugal in 1993 and renamed 'Berrio'.
Black Rover	Whilst supporting the West Indies Guard Ship HMS Sheffield in 1998, Black Rover provided emergency relief and aid to the people of St. Kitts in the wake of Hurricane Georges. On the same deployment she came to the aid of Central America after Hurricane Mitch devastated the region. On October 6th 2000 Black Rover arrived off the coast of Belize with destroyer Cardiff, to assist in the humanitarian relief effort in the wake of Hurricane Keith.
Green Rover	Green Rover was decommissioned and sold to Indonesia in 1992.
Gold Rover	Participated in the 1986 Jamaican flood relief operations. In January 2000 Gold Rover was towed back to Devonport by two RMAS tugs after breaking down off Lizard Point.
Grey Rover	Was earmarked to decommission in 1997 but remains in service.

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