RFA Fort George (A388)

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Career

Ordered:	18 December 1987
Laid down:	9 March 1989
Launched:	1 March 1991
Commissioned:	16 July 1993
Fate:	Active in service as of 2008
General characteristics
Displacement:	32,300 tonnes
Length:	203.9 m
Beam:	30.3 m
Draught:	9.7 m
Speed:	22 knots (41 km/h)
Complement:	95 RFA 15 RN 24 RNSTS 154 RN Air Squadron personnel
Armament:	2 Phalanx CIWS 2 GAM-BO1 20 mm guns

RFA Fort George (A388) is a combined fleet stores ship and tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

Fort George was ordered from Swan Hunter in late 1987. The ship was laid down in 1989, launched by the wife of the Commander-in-Chief Fleet Admiral Sir Jock Slater in 1991 and commissioned in 1993. Along with RFA Fort Victoria, the ship was equipped with two Phalanx CIWS anti-aircraft guns during a refit at Tyne in 1999.

In March 2000, the ship was equipped with five Sea King helicopters and sent to Mozambique to help with disaster relief work following devastating floods. In May she accompanied HMS Illustrious to Sierra Leone to support British operations to restore stability to that country. Late in the year, during a deployment in the Mediterranean, the ship helped passengers of the Greek ferry Express Samina which had run aground and sunk during a storm on 26 September.