British navy receives first of two subsea surveillance vessels

Europe, News January 23, 2023 , by IRIA No Comments

The Royal British Navy received its first Multi-Role Oceanographic Survey (MROS) vessel. The first of the two subsea surveillance vessels named Topaz Tangaroa arrived at the Cammell Laird yard in Birkenhead.

Topaz Tangaroa will become the UK’s first ship dedicated to safeguarding vital seabed telecommunications cables and oil and gas pipelines. After undergoing military modification, the ship is expected to become operational in mid-2023.

According to the UK Ministry of Defence release, the 6,000-ton ship will become operational with the Royal British Navy starting this summer. Previously, Topaz Tangaroa had been serving as an oil rig support ship.

Being a commercial vessel, it would undergo a series of minor military modifications at the Cammell Laird yard at Birkenhead in northwest England. Military equipment will be installed and the ship painted grey before it begins training with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary and gets deployed for its first front-line operations this summer.

Delivery of the ship is several months ahead of the original handover date after the British Ministry of Defense accelerated the process due to the increasing threat of Russian attack on critical undersea infrastructure.

UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace announced the accelerated acquisition of this MROS vessel in November 2022 after a series of explosions ruptured the defunct Nord Stream gas pipelines in the Baltic Sea, though a perpetrator has yet to be named, many European security experts link the incident to the ongoing Russia-Ukarine war.

Ben Wallace emphasized the importance of underwater surveillance by stating that “It is paramount at a time when we face Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, that we priorities capabilities that will protect our critical national infrastructure.”

*^{Topaz Tangaroa ship in the Port of Rotterdam, the Netherlands. (Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons)}*

Topaz Tangaroa was built in Norway in 2019 to support a mix of underwater operations such as work on oil and gas rigs, construction, maintenance, and inspection work, as well as survey and remotely-operated vehicle and autonomous submarine operations. The vessel is also ideal for underwater surveillance and seabed warfare.

The ship is equipped with a helipad, crane, and expandable working deck that can stretch up to 1,000 square meters. During its previous commercial deployments, the ship had been operating in the Pacific on underwater construction projects.

The vessel requires an operating crew of around two dozen sailors and specialized equipment operators while around 60 Royal Navy specialists for the undersea surveillance systems and other survey and warfare systems would work alongside the ship crew.

According to the head of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Commodore David Eagles, “This is an entirely new mission for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary and one we relish.”