Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance Ship

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The Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance Ship (MROSS) is a type of

gas pipelines
, in both British and international waters.

Background

With around 380 in use across the world,

wire-tapping its undersea cables.[8]

In 2021, the British government published the Integrated Review, a foreign, defence, security and international development policy review, which declared that the ocean was facing pressures caused by climate change and environment degradation, as well as growing tensions around maritime choke points, migration and piracy. This, it stated, negatively impacted livelihoods around the world and impacted the ocean's biological and mineral resources.[9]

MROSS will not be the first vessels used by the

Hydrographic Squadron consisted of five ships: subsea support/ice patrol vessel HMS Protector, inshore and coastal survey vessel HMS Magpie, ocean survey vessel HMS Scott and two Echo-class survey ships.[10] In the past, the Royal Navy also operated HMS Challenger, a specialist diving vessel commissioned in 1983, which took part in clandestine deep diving operations at the end of the Cold War. However, she decommissioned in 1990, followed by HMS Echo in 2022 and the withdrawal of her sister ship, HMS Enterprise in March 2023.[11] While HMS Scott is reported as likely to be extended in service until 2033,[12] there remains a capability gap which the MROSS ships are expected to fill.[5]

Development

The Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance Ship programme was first publicly announced as part of the Integrated Review, a foreign, defence, security and international development policy review published by the British government in March 2021. The review stated that a singular ship would be procured to help deliver a government commitment to protecting the UK's critical national infrastructure and help further its knowledge of the maritime environment.[9] It was also a part of a 30-year National Shipbuilding Strategy and likely to be built in Scotland.[13][14]

By October 2021, the first ship had entered the concept and assessment phase.[15] In October 2022, amid suspected Russian sabotage of the Nord Stream pipeline, British Defence Secretary Ben Wallace announced that two MROSS ships would be procured. The first ship is to be procured as a ready-built commercial vessel and converted, ready for service in 2023. The second vessel will be purpose-built in the UK.[16] In November 2022, the Ministry of Defence announced that the programme would be accelerated using funds gained through the cancellation of the National Flagship, a vessel which was to be used by the monarch and government officials to promote UK interests abroad. The MOD also confirmed that the first MROSS vessel would enter service with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in January 2023.[1][needs update]

In January 2023, the first vessel — MV Topaz Tangaroa — was acquired and entered service as

mothership for autonomous systems and have military communications and light defensive armament added.[17] Conversion work was carried out at Cammell Laird's facility in Birkenhead, England[18] and the vessel entered service in October 2023.[19]

Characteristics

  • Future Proteus
    Future Proteus

The first MROSS vessel, RFA Proteus, is a ready-built commercial vessel which has undergone conversion, whilst the second vessel will be purpose-built in the UK. Service entry for the second purpose-built vessel is anticipated in around 2029.[20] As such, the two vessels are likely to have different designs and characteristics.[16]

Proteus was built in Norway in 2019 and will be equipped to operate

bow thrusters to "hold a precise stationary position when working over subsea installations". She is also equipped with a moon pool, permitting a sheltered way for robot submersibles to be launched or recovered in high sea states. The ship is 98.1 metres (321 ft 10 in) long with a flight deck, heavy duty crane and 1,000 square metres (11,000 sq ft) of cargo space.[17] She has a displacement of 6,000 tonnes (5,900 long tons) and will be crewed by around two dozen RFA sailors and up to 60 Royal Navy specialists.[18]

Whilst both ships will be primarily tasked with survey duties and the protection of the UK's undersea cables and energy supplies, they will also be capable of supporting other defence tasks, such as exercises and operations in the Arctic Ocean.[21][10]

References

  1. ^
    GOV.UK
    . 7 November 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  2. ^ "A guide to RFA Proteus – the UK's new seabed warfare vessel". Navy Lookout. 10 October 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  3. ^ Griffiths, James (26 July 2021). "The global internet is powered by vast undersea cables. But they're vulnerable". CNN. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  4. GOV.UK
    . 24 March 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  5. ^
    BFBS
    . 27 May 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  6. ^ "Intelligence: A submarine cable counter-intelligence ship for the Royal Navy". Air & Cosmos International. 24 March 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  7. ^ Peter, Laurence (3 January 2021). "What makes Russia's new spy ship Yantar special?". BBC News. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  8. ^ "Could Russia cut undersea communication cables?". BBC News. 15 December 2017. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  9. ^ a b "Global Britain in a Competitive Age: the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy". GOV.UK. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  10. ^
    BFBS
    . 21 March 2021. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  11. ^ "Why has the Royal Navy decommissioned 6 ships in a year?". Navy Lookout. 23 March 2023. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  12. ^ "The Royal Navy's ocean survey vessel HMS Scott life extended until 2033". Navy Lookout. 26 May 2023. Retrieved 26 May 2023.
  13. ^ "Telecommunications Cables: Seas and Oceans". UK Parliament. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  14. ^ "Defence in a Competitive Age" (PDF). GOV.UK. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  15. ^ "Multi Role Ocean Surveillance Ship: Procurement". UK Parliament. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
  16. ^ a b "Protecting seabed infrastructure – UK Multi-Role Ocean Surveillance Ship to be in service by 2023". NavyLookout. 3 October 2022. Retrieved 3 October 2022.
  17. ^ a b "UK purchases commercial vessel for conversion to ocean surveillance ship; Navy Lookout". 17 January 2023.
  18. ^ a b "Navy's new guardian of key underwater infrastructure arrives in UK". Royal Navy. 19 January 2023. Retrieved 22 January 2023.
  19. ^ "A guide to RFA Proteus – the UK's new seabed warfare vessel". Navy Lookout. 10 October 2023. Retrieved 11 October 2023.
  20. ^ "Why has the Royal Navy decommissioned 6 ships in a year?". Navy Lookout. 23 March 2023. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  21. ^ "Telecommunications Cables: Seas and Oceans". UK Parliament. Retrieved 4 November 2021.
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