A steel cutting ceremony at Navantia UK’s Appledore shipyard in North Devon has marked the official start of construction on the first Fleet Solid Support (FSS) ship for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA).
Luke Pollard, the UK’s Defence Readiness and Industry Minister, led the event, during which commodore Sam Shattock, head of Royal Fleet Auxiliary Service, announced the vessel’s name as RFA Resurgent.
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Attendees included the Navantia UK workforce, apprentices, representatives from Ministry of Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, Royal Navy, government officials, industry partners, and suppliers to both the FSS programme and the Appledore yard.
The FSS programme involves a £100m ($132m) investment distributed across Navantia UK’s Belfast and Appledore sites.
The initiative is intended to increase economic activity in these regions while delivering three new support ships to enhance Royal Navy operations.
Each vessel measuring 216 metres (m) in length, are designed to supply munitions, spare parts, food and essential stores to naval vessels at sea.
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By GlobalDataNavantia UK employs 200 people at Appledore, including 20 new apprentices recruited this year in partnership with Petroc College.
Across its four sites at Appledore, Arnish, Belfast, and Methil, the company has 222 apprentices on its workforce, representing 20% of total employees.
At Appledore shipyard, construction work will focus on building the bow sections of each ship in three individual blocks.
The mid-sections and final assembly are scheduled for Navantia UK’s Harland & Wolff shipyard in Belfast.
The wider programme includes upgrades at all four of Navantia UK’s yards.
In Harland & Wolff, new equipment such as robotic plasma cutters, mechanised panel lines, and automated quality control systems have been installed.
Updates to delivery systems and digital integration continue as part of efforts to improve efficiency.
At Appledore, investments include a new roof and a plasma cutter used during today’s ceremony.
Minister Luke Pollardsaid: “This is a significant moment as we begin the build of the RFA’s newest ship that will keep our Royal Navy ready to fight and able to deter future threats. By backing British shipbuilding, we are creating more than 1,200 skilled jobs in Devon, Belfast and beyond. This shows defence is as an engine for growth, boosting communities across the UK. In a new era of threat, we are investing more of a rising defence budget in new platforms and technologies.”
The FSS vessels will be modern solid stores replenishment ships for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary and will be the largest UK military ships apart from aircraft carriers.
In November 2025, the FSS programme completed the critical design review stage, which advanced the work from design stages into manufacturing.
