Bay-class Dock Landing Ship

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The Bay-class is a class of five dock landing ships built for the British Royal Fleet Auxiliary and Royal Australian Navy (RAN) in the 2000s. They are 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, and one from Cockatoo Island Dockyard. 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. Choules was built for Australia at the Cockatoo Island Dockyard in 2007, launched in 2009 and commissioned in late 2011.

Since entering service, the Bay-class ships have been used for amphibious operations, training of the Iranian Navy in the Persian Gulf, counter-drug deployments in the Caribbean, and relief operations following the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

Unit Run[edit | edit source]

Royal Navy[edit | edit source]

  • RFA Largs Bay (L3006)
  • RFA Lyme Bay (L3007)
  • RFA Mounts Bay (L3008)
  • RFA Cardigan Bay (L3009)

Royal Australian Navy[edit | edit source]

  • HMAS Choules (L100)