The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) is a naval auxiliary fleet owned by the UK's Ministry of Defence. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service and provides logistical and operational support to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. It forms one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy.
The RFA ensures the Royal Navy is supplied and supported by providing fuel and stores through replenishment at sea, transporting Royal Marines and British Army personnel, providing medical care and transporting equipment and essentials around the world. In addition the RFA acts independently providing humanitarian aid, counter piracy and counter narcotic patrols together with assisting the Royal Navy in preventing conflict and securing international trade. They are a uniformed civilian branch of the Royal Navy staffed by British merchant sailors.
RFA personnel are civilian employees of the Ministry of Defence and members of the Royal Naval Reserve and Sponsored Reserves. Although RFA personnel wear Merchant Navy rank insignia with naval uniforms. RFA vessels are commanded and crewed by these sailors, augmented with regular and reserve Royal Navy personnel who perform specialised functions such as operating and maintaining helicopters or providing hospital facilities. Royal Navy personnel are also needed to operate certain weapons, such as the Phalanx; however, other weapons (such as the DS30B 30 mm cannon) are operated by RFA personnel. The RFA counts three dock landing ships amongst its assets.
As of late 2024, the RFA was suffering from severe manpower shortages resulting in only 6 of (then) 11 vessels being able to be crewed on a regular basis.
History
The RFA was established in 1905 to provide logistical support for the Navy. Since the Royal Navy of that era possessed the largest network of bases around the world of any fleet, the RFA at first took a relatively minor role.
thumb|left|[[USS Donald Cook|USS Donald Cook receives fuel during a replenishment at sea (RAS) with the former ]]
The RFA first became heavily relied upon by the Royal Navy during World War II, when the British fleet was often far from available bases, either due to the enemy capturing such bases, or, in the Pacific, because of the sheer distances involved. World War II also saw naval ships staying at sea for much longer periods than had been the case since the days of sail. Techniques of replenishment at sea (RAS) were developed. The auxiliary fleet comprised a diverse collection, with not only RFA ships, but also commissioned warships and merchantmen as well. The need for the fleet to be maintained was unambiguously demonstrated by World War II.
After 1945, the RFA became the Royal Navy's main source of support in the many conflicts that the Navy was involved in. The RFA performed important service to the Far East Fleet off Korea from 1950 until 1953, when sustained carrier operations were again mounted in Pacific waters. During the extended operations of the Konfrontasi in the 1960s, the RFA was also heavily involved. As the network of British bases overseas shrank during the end of the Empire, the Navy increasingly relied on the RFA to supply its ships during routine deployments.
The RFA played an important role in the largest naval war since 1945, the Falklands War in 1982 (where one vessel was lost and another badly damaged), and also the Gulf War, Kosovo War, Afghanistan Campaign and the 2003 invasion of Iraq.
In July 2008, the RFA was presented with a Queen's Colour, an honour unique to a civilian organisation.
Fleet
thumb|right|Commodore Bill Walworth and Commodore [[Tim Fraser RN aboard RFA Lyme Bay]]
Ships in RFA service carry the ship prefix RFA, standing for Royal Fleet Auxiliary, and fly the Blue Ensign defaced with an upright gold killick anchor. All Royal Fleet Auxiliaries are built and maintained to Lloyd's Register and Department for Transport standards.
As of early-2026, there are 9 ships in service with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary with a total displacement of approximately 244,000 tonnes. These figures exclude the merchant navy vessels under charter to the Ministry of Defence performing sealift and fuel provisioning roles.
Underway replenishment
The most important role provided by the RFA is replenishment at sea (RAS), therefore the mainstay of the current RFA fleet are the replenishment ships. Two classes of vessel are in service as of 2024: and the .
The Tide class are designated 'Fast Fleet Tankers' that were ordered in February 2012. The four tankers were ordered from DSME, South Korea with design support from Britain's BMT Defence Services, the first of which entered service in 2017. From 2022, only the Tide class remained active with both of the former vessels placed in extended readiness (uncrewed reserve) and then, in 2024/25, retired from service completely. As of April 2024, RFA Tiderace was also reported to be in extended readiness, primarily owing to serious personnel shortages in the RFA. However, as of late 2025 it was reported that she was being reactivated primarily as a result of sailors becoming available due to the retirement of RFA Argus.
RFA Fort Victoria is a 'one-stop' replenishment ship, capable of providing under way refuelling and dry cargo (i.e. rearming, victualling and spares). Until 2011, she had a sister ship in until she was decommissioned as a result of defence cuts. Two ships of the also provided dry stores replenishment but were placed into extended readiness in 2020. The two ships were later decommissioned, leaving Fort Victoria the only fleet solid support ship in service. In 2023, Fort Victoria was reported to be in "reduced readiness" and, in 2024, she was relegated to "extended readiness" (uncrewed reserve). A class of three new fleet solid support ships are expected to arrive starting in 2031 under the Fleet Solid Support Ship Programme. The manufacturing contract for this acquisition, valued at £1.6 billion, was signed in January 2023.
The Tide class and Fort Victoria incorporate aviation facilities, providing aviation support and training facilities as well as vertical replenishment (VERTREP) capabilities. They are capable of operating and supporting AgustaWestland Merlin and AgustaWestland Wildcat helicopters, both of which are significant weapons platforms. The presence of aviation facilities on RFA ships allows for them to be used as 'force multipliers' for the task groups they support in line with Royal Navy doctrine.
Replenishment ships
{|class="wikitable" style="margin:auto; width:100%;"
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! style="text-align:center; width:18%;"|Class
! style="text-align:center; width:18%;"|Ship
! style="text-align:center; width:10%;"|Pennant No.
! style="text-align:center; width:12%;"|Entered service
! style="text-align:center; width:12%;"|Displacement
! style="text-align:center; width:24%;"|Type
! style="text-align:center; width:6%;"|Note
|-
! rowspan="4"|
|RFA Tidespring || A136 || 2017 || rowspan="4"|39,000 tonnes || rowspan="4"|Replenishment tanker ||
|-
|RFA Tiderace || A137 || 2018 ||