RFA Argus sailed from Plymouth this afternoon on a long-planned deployment to the Caribbean. Equipped with a 100-bed medical facility she may be called upon to assist British Overseas Territories dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak. French, and possibly Dutch vessels are also being sent to the region to support their territories. Co-ordination between the naval forces is likely but this is not a formal joint, EU or NATO operation.
There have been some recent media reports claiming Argus would be sent to London so her medical facilities could be used to supplement the work of the NHS. She is not a hospital ship but is a Primary Casualty Reception Ship (PCRS) designed to receive casualties from the battlefield, typically by helicopter, to be stabilised before sending them on to hospitals ashore. Compared with the 4,000-bed NHS Nightingale hospital, amazingly built in just nine days at London’s ExCel Exhibition Centre, Argus has a very limited capacity. This consists of 10 intensive care, 20 high-dependency and 70 general ward beds. Although Argus is fitted with a lift and ramp between the flight deck and hospital, patients, staff and supplies have much easier access at ExCel than would be the case if using a ship.
Sending RFA Argus to the Caribbean makes sense. RFA Mounts Bay returned from 3 years in the region in mid-March and Argus was already scheduled to replace her disaster-relief capability if needed during the hurricane season that starts in June. Offshore Patrol Vessel HMS Medway is now permanently deployed in the region and is well suited to maritime security tasks but has nothing like the disaster-relief and medical capacity of the RFA. The ready-made medical facility, mobility and aviation capabilities of Argus are much more suited to helping the smaller population of islanders than thousands of Londoners. At the time of writing, confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the Caribbean vary and travel restrictions may help the islands control the outbreak. Bermuda already has 32 cases and just declared a state of emergency, enforcing a 24-hour curfew for 14 days. Healthcare provision in the Caribbean is limited and could be quickly overwhelmed if the situation worsens.
For government planners responding to the pandemic in the UK and considering its overseas territories, the shortage of medical personnel and equipment is more of a problem than the hospital facilities themselves. The medical facility onboard Argus is not permanently staffed and the majority of Royal Naval medics that are embarked for short periods are already at work in the NHS hospitals. Argus will sail with a small medical team and their supplies but staff would have to be increased if she needs to take more than a handful of patients.
Argus will shortly embark three Merlin Mk 4s of 845 NAS and a Wildcat of 815 NAS which will offer a very useful personnel and stores lifting capability. She is also carrying water and ration packs provided by DFiD and materials to repair damage and clear blocked roads.
Argus has an outstanding record in serving the nation. Originally taken up from trade in 1982 for the Falklands Crisis, she served in the first Gulf War (1991), Bosnia (1993) and Kosovo (1999), Sierra Leone (2001), second Gulf War (2003) and off Sierra Leone again, supporting the military response to control the Ebola outbreak (2014). Few vessels have ever provided the taxpayer with such good value for money. She will go out of service in 2024 and the NAO reported in February that the MoD has no budget allocated to replace her. The 41-year-old ship completed a major 12-month refit and engine overhaul at Falmouth in January 2019 and another maintenance period at the end of February 2019. She has been alongside in Devonport preparing to deploy for the last couple of weeks.
The French Navy will send their assault ship FS Dixmude and the auxiliary tanker FS Somme to assist their ‘Overseas Departments’ of French Antilles and French Guyana. The FS Dixmude is currently preparing to sail from Toulon, her main medical facility has 69 beds and another 50 can be added by utilising space in the hangar. FS Somme will be on hand to provide logistical support and fuel as many parts of the Caribbean lack the infrastructure required to sustain naval vessels. The French territories appear to have been harder hit by the virus, Martinique and Guadeloupe already have 70 confirmed cases. A second LPD, FS Mistral will support relief work in the French islands of Reunion and Mayotte in the southern Indian Ocean.
There is also speculation the Netherlands will deploy their largest naval vessel, HNLMS Karel Doorman, in support of their territories of Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten. Joint Support Ship, Karel Doorman, can carry a substantial cargo load and has a small medical facility including 2 operating theatres, 3 intensive care beds, 10 medium care beds.
This naval contribution to what is a global pandemic may be relatively small but demonstrates to the Overseas Territories that they are not forgotten as well as the inherent flexibility of naval forces, ready to respond to unexpected events.
Caribbean-Region-Map-1A population of approximately 220,000 live in the UK overseas territories in the Caribbean area; Turks and Caicos Islands (31,000 inhabitants), the Cayman Islands (68,000), the British Virgin Islands (32,000), Anguilla (14,000) and Montserrat (4,600). Bermuda is outside the Caribbean but has 71,000 inhabitants.
Main image: RFANostalgia. Argus sails from Plymouth today.
If we can still afford the overseas aid budget when the dust settles, one hopes it will be spent on a fleet of hospital ships.
Why?
“a fleet of hospital ships”?
You haven’t read the article have you?
There is no near future funding conundrum here. Utilize part of the DFID budget for an adequate and flexible replacement.
When they eventually do the Defence and Security review they should really look at acquiring a purpose built thousand bed hospital ship out of the aid budget. 90% of the time it would provide a mobile naval hospital for third world countries but would be invaluable to the UK in times like these. Either that or a couple of Littoral aid ships with hospital facilities. One could be forward based in the Caribbean and the other in the middle east. They would do far more good in terms of aid than funding corrupt regimes.
Maybe call them Her Majesty’s Hospital Ship Princess Diana & Queen Mother.
I was just reading that the predictions (which are not exactly accurate) are for a busy season as well: https://arstechnica.com/science/2020/04/forecasters-predict-a-busy-atlantic-hurricane-season/
This, and the Bay class have outstanding usefulness not just in a war time environment but improving foreign relations. As such I see no reason as to replacements not being funded from the overseas aid budget.
Agreed the Bays are fantastic vessels and some of the most hard worked ships we have. Why not purchase another 2-3 of these with hangars and use them in the role of hospital ship in peacetime and pay for their build and running costs from the Foreign aid budget.
As everyone keeps saying, it is scandalous this ship is not being replaced by 2 or 3.
All paid for our of our generous foreign aid budget, instead of pissing it away on foreign NGO’s to live on 6 figure salaries.
Great article apart from the Falklands War reference again – ARGUS wasn’t commissioned until 1988 following conversion at H&W.
Nevertheless she was taken up from trade and was in the Falklands during the war in 1982, just not under the name Argus.
From Wikepedia – Italian-built, Argus was formerly the container ship MV Contender Bezant. The ship was requisitioned in 1982 for service in the Falklands War and purchased outright in 1984 for use as an Aviation Training Ship, replacing RFA Engadine
I was on the infamous Chinook that landed on Argos and decided to cut 2ft of its blades. The pilot landed too far forward and hit the structure. That was a fun day!
Argus in her original guise as the container ship MV Contender Bezant was a STUFT during the 1982 Operation Corporate.
Argus has never been commissioned. It is a proud Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel.
Well at least RFA Argus is being used for her medical abilities 😊 British Overseas Territories are the responsibility of the UK to protect and now that NHS Nightingale is getting operational Argus’s limited but useful capacity (100 beds and 10 ICU Beds IIRC) can be used elsewhere. Shame we done have a full blown hospital ship but I am glad we have RFA Argus.
Requisition a cruise liner in times like this, a much better choice for the the capacity for patients, medical staff and its existing ‘hotel services’. The specialised medical bedside equipment is the main item to have on standby but thats tricky as it needs to be still serviced and used .
The main “item” is trained clinical staff, not equipment. And the trained clinical staff are all working their arses off in NHS hospitals.
Not all of UK is in same situation as London.
In my country where we took strong measures very early and those in hospital are very very low they are saying hospitals are 50% of capacity. The GP clinics have lower numbers as well as amny consults are done over the phone and the generally worried well worry about other things.
There is a lag. Airline staff are being called up, the army and fire service are delivering PPE, the retired are being recalled to service and non-clinical staff (including me) are being asked to volunteer for frontline duties.. No-one has the time or inclination to be playing around with cruise ships.
Not every occasion where a hospital ship is required is a once in a century pandemic. Have you heard of volunteers?
Have you read my post above, the one that you’re replying to?
The DMS (Defence medical Service) is staffed by around 11,200 service personnel (7,600 regular and 3,600 reserve) and 2,200 civilian personnel
They can be deployed from those numbers
You arent making any points at all, and as I said this type of Hospital ship is not designed for a once in a century pandemic like they have in UK at present.
Right, now you need to go back and read your first post when you said, “ in times like this”.
And hurrah for Googling Defence Medical Services.
Not all of the 7,600 active soldiers, sailors and airmen, in the DMS are doctors, the vast majority are medics whose primary training is in the immediate stabilisation of trauma cases and very minor primary healthcare duties.
Most of the Doctors already have placements either within NHS frameworks or within army Medical Centres, where they have a duty of care already. With Reserves, the vast majority of reservists working in DMS work within the NHS (hence why they are put into DMS reserves). Ideal for when a military situation calls for more medical staff, not so ideal when a civilian disaster calls for increases in NHS staffing.
I didn’t know Hms Medway was permanently deployed in the Caribbean
How much longer can Argus remain in service, it was converted from an existing merchant hull nearly 40 years ago.
I seem to remember that the conversion required some of the hatch covers to be inverted and filled with concrete to maintain stability.
Argus is a very, very old lady originally designed for another purpose.
Until the point where the RFA can no longer bribe or beg the MCA / Lloyds for exemptions to keep the ship in the water.
The RFA is very very good at re-purposing ships to do things that they were never designed for(Think Bay boats) and this goes double for the Argus over it’s lifespan.
A replacement is badly needed but as always comes down to money.
Now would be the time to go into the commercial market place and buy a suitable vessel of recent build to convert. Please, please do not let the MoD near this; appoint a ship broker from the commercial world who knows what he is doing.