RFA Cardigan Bay (L3009)

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Career

Ordered:	19 November 2001
Laid down:
Launched:	9 April 2005
Commissioned:	6 March 2007
Decommissioned:
Fate:	In service
General characteristics
Displacement:	16 160 tonnes
Length:	176.6 m
Beam:	26.4 m
Draught:	5.1 m
Propulsion:	2 x Wartsila 8L26 engines, 2 x Wartsila 12V26 engines.
Speed:	18 knots (33 km/h)
Range:	8,000 nautical miles (15,000 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h).
Complement:	59
Military Lift:	356 troops; 1200 Linear metres of vehicles (e.g. 32 Challenger 2 MBT's or 150 light trucks); 12 × 40 TEU or 24 × 24 TEU containers, 2 Landing Craft Vehicle and Personnel (LCVP) Mk.5 and 1 Landing Craft Utility (LCU) Mk 10; two Mexeflote powered rafts.
Armament:	None, but fitted to receive military weapons and self defence systems, including Phalanx CIWS.
Aircraft:	Twin spot flight deck with limited facilities to transport and operate Merlin, Chinook and V22 Osprey.
Motto:

RFA Cardigan Bay (L3009) is an amphibious assault vessel of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

[edit] Launch

It was launched at BAE Systems Naval Ships shipyard in Govan, Glasgow on Saturday 9 April 2005.

It had been due to be launched the day before. There was a large invited crowd in the shipyard, and a few hundred people had gathered on the north shore of the River Clyde at Scotstoun. At around 15 minutes to the scheduled launch time four tugs, including Warrior and Shannon, started moving into position for the launch. However the ship manager decided that because of high winds and low water it was not safe to launch the ship, and at around 20 minutes after the scheduled time he decided to call off the launch for that day. There was an unusual north wind, which could have retarded the tide coming up the Firth of Clyde. They did go ahead with the naming ceremony, launching red, white and blue balloons and confetti from high on the ship, but by 2.30pm she was still dry and all the crew off.

They decided to try to launch it again at the next daytime high tide the following day. There was still a wind, but from the east, the river did look significantly higher. Another crowd gathered on the north bank, but smaller than the day before. Four tugs, including Warrior and Battler took up position. A small boat with a large red flag with the word "LAUNCH" on it took position up-river. Just after 2 p.m. the ship slowly slid down the slipway into the river, then she was halted by a large pile of chains behind her. The four tugs surrounded her, ready to take her to the fitting-out basin.

[edit] Commissioning

The ship was commissioned on 6th March 2007 in Portland harbour. Sea Cadets from locally assisted, whilst some more from Kent provided an honoury guard. Also present was the Commodore of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. The band present for the commissioning was The Light Cavalry Band, a regular Army band stationed in Bovington, Dorset.