Royal Navy and French Navy combine to test new support ship

One of Britain’s biggest warships, HMS Albion, was towed through the Channel to help the French test the power of a new specialist ship, according to a Royal Navy press release on 11 November.

The FS Garonne hauled huge assault ship HMS Albion past the coast of Devon to assess its pulling strength and abilities – as well as hone Anglo-French naval co-operation and the Royal Navy’s own emergency procedures.

The Garonne is one of four new specialists Loire-class support ships built for the French Navy designed to provide a multitude of services, from supporting diving operations and dealing with pollution in the aftermath of spillage at sea, to assisting submarines and surface ships, including salvage operations.

Classified as bâtiments de soutien et d’assistance métropolitains – metropolitan support and assistance ships – they’ve also been designed with the ability to tow France’s next-generation carrier due to enter service in the mid-2030s and displacing 75,000 tonnes.

WithRoyal Navy’s HMS Queen Elizabeth deployed and her sister, Prince of Wales undergoing maintenance in Portsmouth Naval Base, the next largest British warship HMS Albion – 18,500 tonnes, 176 meters long, 29 wide – acted as the ‘breakdown victim’ to test the Garonne’s towing ability.

The Plymouth-based amphibious assault ship pretended to be dead in the water in the Channel – with the Garonne throwing her a line, figuratively and physically.

From the British side, the complex seamanship exercise was overseen by the MoD’s Salvage and Marine Operations (SALMO) team which provides salvage, towing, and heavy-lift capability.

Before participating in the Towing Exercise, Garonne carried out intensive trials and training to prove her ability to work with NATO’s Submarine Rescue System (NSRS).

The jointly owned UK, French and Norwegian system is capable of diving down to a submarine in distress, docking with the escape hatches, and carrying out an evacuation.

One of the key parts of the system is a Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) used to confirm the location of disabled submarines and supply them with life support equipment and clear any debris or wires entangling the vessel.

The NSRS team – headed by Commander Richard Cragg Royal Navy – worked with Garonne’s crew with the ROV to carry out tests with a new technology that will speed up emergency reaction time.

The NSRS is designed to be transported anywhere in the world within 72 hours to support the global submarine rescue network and is based at the home of the UK’s Submarine Service at Clyde Naval Base in Scotland.

This was the first deployment of the NSRS to the Loire-class, which will provide a new level of operational flexibility for the system following the successful training of the South Coast of the UK.

On top of this joint working, last month destroyer HMS Dragon also took part in an intensive workout with French warships and airpower off the Brest peninsula, Exercise Sky Sharks, to ensure greater integration between the two navies.

Check out Naval Library App to learn more about the specifications of HMS Albion.