Final Bay Class Landing Ship Delivered Nine Weeks Early

Glasgow, United Kingdom. - RFA Lyme Bay, the fourth and final ship in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary’s new class of landing ship, has been delivered to the UK Ministry of Defence more than two months ahead of schedule.

The vessel has recently completed stage one contractor sea trials off the coast of Scotland and was delivered to Falmouth to join her sister ships before undergoing further tests prior to the official handover ceremony in Portland on 2nd August. RFA Lyme Bay was built and launched at Swan Hunter on Tyneside before being brought to the Clyde in 2006 for completion.

Commenting on the successful delivery of the programme, head of the LSD(A) project Scott Jamieson said: “I am delighted that we have been able to deliver RFA Lyme Bay both to an exceptional standard and nine weeks ahead of schedule.

“It is vital that our customer receives true value for money, in order to comply with the UK’s Defence Industrial Strategy and I believe that we have fully achieved that with this vessel.”

Speaking after the delivery of RFA Lyme Bay, the UK MoD’s LSD(A) team leader Andy Hewitt said: "RFA Lyme Bay has been successfully delivered by BAE Systems to a very high standard. The vessel will now undertake an additional work package in support of full system acceptance prior to handover in Portland.”