Serco has contracted Damen Shipyards Group to build a powerful new tug to support the Royal Navy's two new aircraft carriers at Portsmouth Naval Base as part of its contract to provide Marine Services to the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (UK MOD).
The vessel will be the first of its type under the UK Flag.
The Damen-built advanced rotor tug (ART) 80-32 tug will have 80-tonnes bollard pull in order to support the Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers, the two largest ships ever commissioned for the Royal Navy.
HMS 'Queen Elizabeth' and HMS 'Prince of Wales' are currently under construction at Rosyth on the River Forth in Scotland. Construction of the tug is expected to be completed in early 2017.
Serco is the UK's largest operator of British flagged vessels with the new vessel bringing its total fleet to 115.
Serco has specified a number of modifications to the Robert Allan Ltd design to enable her to support the huge aircraft carriers. These include a double drum render/recovery aft winch for redundancy and a foldable mast for safe working under the flight deck overhang.
