Double Skinned Tankers

[Phoney Tony]

I am surprised I have not seen much about this, the latest MoD C**k up.

In 2009 all military oil tankers have to be double skinned to prevent ecological disaster if they are holed.

Unfortunatley, whilst this has been common knowledge for many years nothing has been done about it.

So what you say.

The RN, without these vessels, is effectively unable to operate worldwide. (So much for being able to operate without host nation support!).

Aquiring replacement vessels in short order is going to have a massive effect on defence as a whole as the funding has not been put in place.

Thus some sacred cows will have to go, projects will be shifted to the right or cancelled. Flying rates will be under even more pressure.

There will be pain all round.

There must be a responsible person some where. Who is it? Will they be sacked? If not why not?

[Talking Radalt]

And the relevance to aviation is where exactly?

Just to make you feel better....
Someone IS responsible for this cock-up, but they WON'T be sacked, because they'll "retire" about six months after awarding a contract for re-skinning HM war canoes to a company of which they are then on the board of directors.
Ker-ching! :hmm:

[wg13_dummy]

They havent got any boats to refuel anyway have they?

Another cunning plan to rid the UK of any sort of Armed Force.

[Bismark]

Phoney,

Apart from being off subject, you appear to be a bit of a journo.

When I left the RN I thought that the Wave Class were double hulled and the rest of the fleet had an exemption. In any event I also thought there was a funded programme of replacement vessels - something to do with men from mars?

[Archimedes]

Wave class are double hulled. Military shipping is, AIUI, exempt - the convention *calls* on governments to have their Navy's vessels compliant by 2010, but doesn't *compel* them.

There is a piece here (http://www.ibiblio.org/maritime/Scheepvaartnieuws/Pdf/scheepvaartnieuws/2003/juli/113-29-07-2003a.PDF) in 'Daily Shipping News' (a pdf. document, found with a quick Google) complete with standard issue inflamatory headline suggesting that the government will 'defy the ban', stating the intention to be compliant as soon as it can be, rather than on time

Parliamentary answers also suggest that the old single hull tankers will continue to operate until the MARS project comes into being, rather than at the behest of the IMO.

[movadinkampa747]

I hear that Britain plans to send nearly 300 new armoured vehicles to better protect the country's troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. About 100 Vector vehicles, which offer better protection than existing "snatch" Land Rovers, should arrive in Afghanistan early next year, to add to the 66 already there.

[WE Branch Fanatic]

And the relevance to aviation is where exactly?

The majority of RFAs are aviation capable and can/do carry helicopters, importantly contributing to a task group's aviation capability.

With respect to the topic, see MARS (http://navy-matters.beedall.com/mars.htm).