RFA Fort Victoria (A387) - Construction

Construction

Fort Victoria was ordered from Harland and Wolff in 1986, and was launched in 1990. She is named after Fort Victoria on the Isle of Wight.

On 6 September 1990, while at dock and less than three months after being christened, a Provisional IRA unit planted two explosive devices on board. After a telephone warning from the IRA, one of the bombs exploded, causing extensive damage inside the engine room, which was holed and subsequently flooded. The ship listed 45 degrees, and the chances of sinking were high. The situation was under control after hours of work by emergency teams, which pumped the water out of the engine room. Sir John Parker, the shipbuilder, praised the courage of the engineers for saving the ship. It was not learned that a second device had failed to explode until a second IRA phone call 24 hours later. It took two weeks to find and disable the second bomb, which stalled the works further.

This incident and other problems with the construction of the vessel meant it was not delivered until 1993, three years after originally planned. In 1998, the ship was fitted with the Phalanx CIWS.

She was accepted into service on 24 June 1994.