RFA Fort Rosalie (A385) is a fleet stores ship of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary

Royal Fleet Auxiliary

The Royal Fleet Auxiliary is a civilian-manned fleet owned by the British Ministry of Defence. The RFA enables ships of the United Kingdom Royal Navy to maintain operations around the world. Its primary role is to supply the Royal Navy with fuel, ammunition and supplies, normally by replenishment...

. Fort Rosalie was originally named RFA Fort Grange, but was renamed in May 2000 to avoid confusion with RFA Fort George

RFA Fort George (A388)

RFA Fort George was 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...

, a change which was not universally popular.

History

Fort Rosalie was laid down in 1973, by Scott Lithgow

Scott Lithgow

-History:The Company was formed in 1967 by the merger of Scotts Shipbuilding and Engineering Company and Lithgows. Scott Lithgow was based in Port Glasgow and Greenock on the lower Clyde in Scotland. Scott Lithgow was nationalised and subsumed into British Shipbuilders in 1977...

 on the River Clyde

River Clyde

The River Clyde is a major river in Scotland. It is the ninth longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third longest in Scotland. Flowing through the major city of Glasgow, it was an important river for shipbuilding and trade in the British Empire....

, launched in 1976 and commissioned the next year. The ship saw its first war service during the Falklands War

Falklands War

The Falklands War , also called the Falklands Conflict or Falklands Crisis, was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the disputed Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands...

, and also supported British forces in the Balkans

Balkans

The Balkans is a geopolitical and cultural region of southeastern Europe...

 alongside at the port of Split

Split (city)

Split is a Mediterranean city on the eastern shores of the Adriatic Sea, centered around the ancient Roman Palace of the Emperor Diocletian and its wide port bay. With a population of 178,192 citizens, and a metropolitan area numbering up to 467,899, Split is by far the largest Dalmatian city and...

 from at least 1994-2000, being based at Cervena Luka (North Port) an area just outside Split, Croatia. Fort Rosalie also oversaw repairs to at Gibraltar

Gibraltar

Gibraltar is a British overseas territory located on the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula at the entrance of the Mediterranean. A peninsula with an area of , it has a northern border with Andalusia, Spain. The Rock of Gibraltar is the major landmark of the region...

 later in 2000. She is affiliated to Tamworth and Lichfield Sea Cadets

Sea Cadet Corps (United Kingdom)

The Sea Cadet Corps is a UK national youth organisation sponsored by the Royal Navy and open to young people between the ages of 10-18 years old. The SCC is the UK's largest Naval Cadet Force with over 30,000 cadets and adult volunteers...

 under her former name, Fort Grange.

Fort Rosalie attended the HMNB Devonport

HMNB Devonport

Her Majesty's Naval Base Devonport , is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy . HMNB Devonport is located in Devonport, in the west of the city of Plymouth in Devon, England...

 Navy Days in August 2006, representing the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. was berthed astern.

The ship has just emerged from refit, begun in May 2008, which cost a total of £28 million by Northwestern Shiprepairers & Shipbuilders

Northwestern Shiprepairers & Shipbuilders

Northwestern Shiprepairers & Shipbuilders was a British shiprepair company based in Birkenhead on the River Mersey.-History:The Company was founded by John Syvret, a former Cammell Laird manager, in 2001. In 2002 50% of the business was sold to Mersey Docks & Harbour Co. in exchange for the use of...

 based in Birkenhead's

Birkenhead

Birkenhead is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral in Merseyside, England. It is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the west bank of the River Mersey, opposite the city of Liverpool...

 Cammell Laird

Cammell Laird

Cammell Laird, one of the most famous names in British shipbuilding during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, came about following the merger of Laird, Son & Co. of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co. of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century.- Founding of the business :The Company...

 yard.

It is currently a support ship to the COUGAR 11 deployment, the first of the Royal Navy's Response Force Task Group

Response Force Task Group

The Response Force Task Group is a new initiative announced in the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review and is the heart of the UK’s maritime contingent capability, held at very high readiness to respond to unexpected global events...

partial deployment.