We’ve been onboard RFA Argus a couple of times this month; once to carry out a full galley service and then most recently to carry out a laundry survey and subsequent service.

RFA Argus is a ship of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary operated by the Ministry of Defence under the Blue Ensign. She is Italian-built and was formerly the container ship MV Contender Bezant.  Having seen action in the Falklands War and the Gulf War, she was fitted with an extensive and fully functional hospital to assume the additional role of Primary Casualty Receiving Ship.

The Argus is due to remain in service beyond 2030 and in July 2022 it was reported that the future Littoral Strike Role would be assumed by Argus after a refit to convert her. Since October 2023, she started her deployment to serve as part of Littoral Response Group (South).

In her secondary role as a primary casualty receiving ship, as she is an armed vessel and not painted in the required white with red crosses, the Geneva Convention does not permit her to be officially classified as a hospital ship. She is therefore ideally suited to the humanitarian aid role and she has undertaken several of these missions. The Royal Navy has occasionally described her as a “support ship/helicopter carrier”.

Our engineers visited her at A&P’s Falmouth site.