Replenishment oiler
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A replenishment oiler or replenishment tanker is a naval auxiliary ship with fuel tanks and dry cargo holds which can supply both fuel and dry stores during underway replenishment (UNREP) at sea. Many countries have used replenishment oilers.
The United States Navy's hull classification symbol for this type of ship was 'AOR' (Auxiliary Oil Replenishment). Replenishment oilers are slower and carry fewer dry stores than the US Navy's modern fast combat support ships, which carry the classification 'AOE'. In 2020 the US Navy began to develop a new type of ship, the 'AOL' or light replenishment oiler; construction of the first is planned for 2026.[1]
History
The development of the "oiler" paralleled the change from coal- to oil-fired boilers in warships. Prior to the adoption of oil fired machinery, navies could extend the range of their ships either by maintaining coaling stations or for warships to raft together with colliers and for coal to be manhandled aboard. Though arguments related to fuel security were made against such a change, the ease with which liquid fuel could be transferred led in part to its adoption by navies worldwide.
One of the first generation of "blue-water" navy oiler support vessels was the British RFA Kharki, active 1911 in the run-up to the First World War. Such vessels heralded the transition from coal to oil as the fuel of warships and removed the need to rely on, and operate within range of coaling stations. During the Second World War, the United States Navy's dramatically enlarged fleets, especially those in the Pacific Theater, required massive quantities of black oil, diesel oil, avgas, and other fuels and lubricants to support American land, sea, and air operations against remote, widely dispersed Japanese forces. Those supply demands resulted in U.S. Navy personnel refining many established practices for oilers and creating new procedures for replenishing warships while underway and for transporting highly combustible materials with increased effectiveness through hostile waters and over vast ocean distances.[2][3]
Modern examples of the fast combat support ship include the large British Fort class, displacing Template:Convert and measuring Template:Convert in length and the United States' Template:Sclass Template:USNS, which displaces Template:Convert and has an overall length of Template:Convert.
Characteristics
For all but the largest navies, replenishment oilers are typically one of the largest ships in the fleet. Such ships are designed to carry large amounts of fuel and dry stores for the support of naval operations far away from port. Replenishment oilers are also equipped with more extensive medical and dental facilities than smaller ships can provide.
Such ships are equipped with multiple refueling gantries to refuel and resupply multiple ships at a time. The process of refueling and supplying ships at sea is called underway replenishment. Furthermore, such ships often are designed with helicopter decks and hangars. This allows the operation of rotary-wing aircraft, which allows the resupply of ships by helicopter. This process is called vertical replenishment. These ships, when operating in concert with surface groups, can act as an aviation maintenance platform where helicopters receive more extensive maintenance than can be provided by the smaller hangars of the escorting ships.
Their size, additional facilities, and ability to support the operation of other vessels, means that replenishment oilers have been used as command ships, with some ships, such as the French Template:Sclass, this capability being built into the vessels from the start.
Armament
Because the replenishment oiler is not a combat unit, but rather a support vessel, such ships are often lightly armed, usually with self-defense systems (such as the Phalanx CIWS close-in weapons systems), small arms, machine guns and/or light automatic cannons. They may also carry man-portable air-defense systems for additional air defense capability.
Operators
- Template:Country data Argentina operates one Template:Sclass purchased from France.
- Template:Country data Australia operates two Template:Sclasss.
- Template:Country data Brazil operates the Almirante Gastão Motta
- Template:Country data Canada operates the Template:MV.
- Template:Country data Chile operates a single Template:Sclass purchased from the United States, and the Araucano.
- Template:Country data China operates two Fuyu-class fast combat support ships, four Dayun-class general stores issue ships, nine Fuchi-class replenishment ships, and a single Fusu-class replenishment ship.
- Template:Country data Taiwan operates the ROCS Wu Yi and ROCS Panshih
- Template:Country data Colombia operates two Template:Sclasss, purchased from Germany.
- Template:Country data Egypt operates a single Template:Sclass, purchased from Germany (being supplemented or replaced by two Fort Rosalie-class replenishment ships, purchased from the United Kingdom).
- Template:Country data France operates one Jacques Chevallier-class and two Template:Sclasss
- Template:Country data Germany operates six Template:Sclasss, two Template:Sclasss, and three Template:Sclasss.
- Template:Country data Greece operates a single Template:Sclass and two Template:Sclasss, purchased from Germany.
- Template:Country data India operates two Template:Sclasss, one Template:Sclass, and a single Template:Sclass.
- Template:Country data Indonesia operates a single Template:Sclass2 purchased from the United Kingdom, two Tarakan-class tankers and more on order.
- Template:Country data Italy operates one Vulcano class logistic support ship, a single Template:Sclass and two Template:Sclasss.
- Template:Country data Iran operates two Template:Sclasss.
- Template:Country data Japan operates three Template:Sclasss and two Template:Sclasss.
- Template:Country data South Korea operates three Template:Sclasss, and the ROKS Soyang
- Template:Country data Netherlands operates HNLMS Karel Doorman
- Template:Country data New Zealand operates HMNZS Aotearoa.
- Template:Country data Norway operates HNoMS Maud.
- Template:Country data Pakistan operates a single Fuqing-class replenishment tanker and the PNS Moawin
- Template:Country data Peru operates the BAP Tacna
- Template:Country data Poland operates the ORP Bałtyk
- Template:Country data Russia operates three Template:Sclasss, one Dora-class tanker, two Uda-class tankers, one Iman-class tanker, four Altay-class tankers, three Dubna-class tankers, two Kaliningradneft-class tankers, and a single Project 23130 replenishment oiler.
- Template:Country data Saudi Arabia operates two Template:Sclasss.
- Template:Country data South Africa operates the Template:SAS
- Template:Country data Spain operates the Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". and Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters"..
- Template:Country data Thailand operates the HTMS Similan
- Template:Country data Turkey operates two Template:Sclasss and one Derya class.
- Royal Fleet Auxiliary ensign British Royal Fleet Auxiliary operates one Template:Sclass, four Template:Sclass2s and two Template:Sclass2s (maintained in reserve).
- Template:Flagicon United States Military Sealift Command operates two Template:Sclasss, fifteen Template:Sclasss, fourteen Template:Sclasss, and two Template:Sclasss.
- Template:Country data Uruguay operates a single Template:Sclass purchased from Germany
- Template:Country data Venezuela operates the RBNV Ciudad Bolívar
Former operators
- Template:Country data Philippines decommissioned BRP Lake Caliraya in 2020.
- Template:Country data Portugal decommissioned NRP Bérrio in 2020. Two new Replenishment Oilers ordered in 2024.[4]
- Template:Country data Ukraine decommissioned its only Template:Sclass in 2001.
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In the United States Navy, an Oiler is a Combat Logistics ship that replenishes other ships with fuel and in some cases food, mail, ammunition and other necessities while at sea, in a process called Underway Replenishment or UNREP.[5] Up through the Second World War Navy oilers used commercial tanker hulls, with the addition of UNREP gear, defensive guns, and military electronic and damage-control equipment; since the 1950s however they have been built from the keel up as specialized naval auxiliaries. They were previously classified as Fleet Oilers[6] in the 20th century; under the current MSC operation their full classification is listed as Fleet Replenishment Oilers.[7] Since the 1960s the classification Transport Oiler (AOT) has applied to tankers which ship petroleum products to depots around the world, but do not engage in UNREP.
The first fleet oilers[8] were identified by the hull designation AO, which is still in use.[7] Large, fast multifunction oilers which also provide ammunition and dry stores are identified as Fast Combat Support Ships (AOE),[9] and mid-size ones Replenishment Oilers (AOR). The AOR designation is no longer in use. All of these oilers provide the combined services of the AO, AE, AFS and AK.
The style "USNS" and prefix "T" identify a ship as being operated by a civilian crew under the Military Sealift Command (known as the Military Sea Transportation Service until 1970).
Current classes
There are three classes of vessels currently in commissioned service:
- Henry J. Kaiser class, T-AO-187-T-AO-204, in service 1986
- Supply class, T-AOE, in service 1990
- John Lewis class, T-AO-205-T-AO-221, in service 2022
Both the Henry J. Kaiser-class and Supply class will be replaced by the John Lewis-class ships.
References
External links
- DANFS USS KALAMAZOO (AOR-6) website
- US Naval Vessel Register
- KMS Dithmarschen
- Spanish Navy Patino Class AOR
- HMAS Success, AOR-304
Template:Warship types of the 19th & 20th centuries Template:MARCOMships
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ "Tankers Built in U.S. During World War II", American Merchant Marine at War (usmm.org). Retrieved June 9, 2017.
- ↑ Sawyer, L. A.; Mitchell, W. H. (1974). Victory ships and tankers; the history of the "Victory" type cargo ships and of the tankers built in the United States of America during World War II. Cornell Maritime Press, Cambridge, Maryland, 1974.
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