The RFA's much smaller present force cannot easily meet the tasking expected of it, and repeated short-term delays helped create the decline. Two usable tankers were being sold chiefly because crews were unavailable, not because the hulls had exhausted their service lives. A reserve arrangement or commercially crewed charter model could preserve them, much as Point-class sealift ships take private work when not required by the Ministry of Defence. Keeping ships active matters because a cold, neglected vessel deteriorates rapidly, while replacing lost capacity through military procurement takes years. Personnel policy and commercial shipping practice therefore affect fleet endurance as directly as decisions about warships.
Notable Point · 1:05:38-1:13:55
Keeping RFA tankers available through reserve and charter work
Selling serviceable RFA tankers for lack of crews sacrifices future capacity when reserve status or commercial charter work could keep hulls warm and useful.