Bay Class Landing Ship

Bay Class Landing Ship

The Bay class is a ship class of four Dock landing ships built for the British Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) during the 2000s. Based on the Dutch-Spanish Royal Schelde Enforcer design and intended as a replacement for the Round Table class logistics ships, two ships each were ordered from Swan Hunter and BAE Systems Naval Ships. Construction work started in 2002, but saw major delays and cost overruns, particularly at Swan Hunter's shipyard. In mid 2006, Swan Hunter was stripped of work, and the incomplete second ship was towed to BAE's shipyard for completion. All four ships, Largs Bay, Lyme Bay, Mounts Bay, and Cardigan Bay had entered service by 2007.

Since entering service, the Bay class ships have been used for amphibious operations, training of the Iraqi Navy in the Persian Gulf, counter-drug deployments in the Caribbean, and relief operations following the 2010 Haiti earthquake. In 2010, Largs Bay was removed from service as part of the Strategic Defence and Security Review. She was sold to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in 2011, who operate her as HMAS Choules.

Read more about Bay Class Landing Ship:  Background, Design, Construction, Operational History, Ships

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