RFA Argus (A135)

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RFA Argus at HMNB Devonport Navy Days 1999
Career (UK)
Name:	RFA Argus
Acquired:	February 1984
Commissioned:	1 June 1988
Motto:	Occuli Omnium
Fate:	Active in service as of 2008
General characteristics
Type:	Aviation training / Casualty receiving ship
Displacement:	28,030 tonnes
Length:	175.1 metres (574 ft 6 in)
Beam:	30.4 metres (99 ft 9 in)
Draught:	8.1 metres (26 ft 7 in)
Propulsion:	2 × Lindholmen Pielstick 18 PC2.5V diesels, two shafts; bow-thruster
Speed:	18 knots (33 km/h)
Complement:	80 RFA 35 RN 137 RN air squadron personnel
Armament:	2 × Oerlikon 20 mm/85 KAA on GAM-BO1 mountings 4 × 7.62mm GPMGs Seagnat chaff launchers
Aircraft carried:	Five spots for Westland Sea Kings, CH-47 Chinooks, Westland Merlins or Westland Lynx; can transport Sea Harrier FA2s

RFA Argus (A135) is an aviation training ship with a secondary role of primary casualty receiving ship in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. Italian-built, Argus was formerly the container ship MV Contender Bezant. The ship was requisitioned in 1982 for service in the Falklands War and purchased outright in 1984.

After a four year conversion at Harland and Wolff in Belfast the ship entered RFA service in 1988, replacing RFA Engadine in the aviation training role. As a container ship, her directional stability when unloaded would greatly exceed that suitable for a warship. Therefore, her superstructure is deliberately heavily built (weighing some 800 tons), and she has 1,800 tons of concrete ballast carried in former hatch covers, which have been inverted to form tray-like structures ^[1].

Argus has proven to be a versatile vessel, serving in many wars. Argus was fitted with a fully functional hospital for the 1991 Gulf crisis, which has since been added to providing a fully functional, 100 bed hospital. It is equipped with the best of equipment: x-ray facilities, CAT scanner, ITU ward etc. Casualties can be quickly transferred from the deck directly into the assessment area. In recent conflicts, the ship's role as a Primary Casualty Receiving Ship (referred to as such rather than a hospital ship as the vessel is armed, thus not meeting the Geneva Convention definition of a hospital ship) has been more prominent than its aviation training duties.

The ship deployed to the Persian Gulf in 1991 for service in the Gulf War, and also saw service in the Adriatic in 1993 and 1999 supporting British operations in Bosnia and over Kosovo respectively. During this period, Argus operated in part as an LPH. Her unsuitability for this role was a major factor in the commissioning of HMS Ocean. In 2003 Argus was deployed again to the Gulf as part of a 33 ship fleet to support a British amphibious assault of the Al-Faw Peninsula. Argus operated in its PCRS role.

In 2007 the ship was refitted with upgraded hospital facilities, generators and aviation systems to give an operational life until 2020.^[2]

There are rumours of replacements for Argus being funded by the end of the decade, but little solid has come of it. Much of the RFA fleet will need to be replaced in the near future, but few concrete preparations have yet been done to order ships.

[edit] Layout

Being a former container ship, Argus does not have a traditional aircraft carrier layout - the ship's superstructure is located forward, with a long flight deck aft. The ship has a small secondary superstructure approximately 2/3 of the way down the flight deck, containing the ship's exhaust funnel. This is used by small helicopters to simulate landing on the flight deck of a destroyer or frigate.

[edit] References