RFA Stirling Castle transferred to Royal Navy

Acquired in 2023 for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, RFA Stirling Castle has been officially redesignated as a fully commissioned warship of the Royal Navy fleet – therefore becoming HMS Stirling Castle. (Crown Copyright)

The UK's Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) minehunting mother ship RFA Stirling Castle has been officially transferred to the Royal Navy (RN), the service has confirmed.

In a ceremony held at West Float Dock, Birkenhead, on 21 July, the White Ensign was raised and the ship was redesignated as a fully commissioned RN warship, becoming HMS Stirling Castle. During the event, the ship's company of 45 sailors and officers also boarded the vessel. Stirling Castle will be based at His Majesty's Naval Base (HMNB) Portsmouth, and there are plans in the future to repaint it grey.

The move will enable the ship to be “committed 100 per cent of its time” to front-line operations protecting UK waters from underwater threats, the RN said, while freeing RFA personnel to focus on their primary task of the fleet's tankers and support ships.

Stirling Castle (ex-MV Island Crown) was purchased second-hand by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) from Island Offshore Management in early 2023 to serve as a host platform for offboard autonomous mine-countermeasures (MCM) payloads previously procured under Project Wilton and Block 1 of the RN's Mine Hunting Capability (MHC) programme.

The ship arrived at HMNB Devonport from Norway in late January 2023 to undergo its military conversion, which it completed the following May.

Following an extensive programme of trials and training with its new crew of RFA personnel, the ship was formally commissioned into RFA service in April 2024. However, ongoing crewing issues affecting the wider RFA have restricted the availability of Stirling Castle