Passing by - quickly

This strange looking vessel passed in front of the ferry as we were going across the water this morning.   It was moving surprisingly quickly for its size but I had no idea what it was until I looked it up on the very useful "Marine Traffic" App.

It is, as some will know, the  RFA Proteus which is, according to the information on line ,, a Royal Fleet Auxiliary  Multi -Role Ocean Surveillance Ship (MROSS).  It is eight years old, and was bought from P&O Maritime Logistics in 2023 , having  previously been used as a platform supply vessel.  

To flesh that out a little, the app says that its role is to be "a platform for Remotely Operated Underwater Vehicles (ROUVs) and a testbed for new specialist capabilities required for monitoring waters important for UK interests".

It seems to have been on the last stage  of a trip from Kirkwall and was being shepherded into Loch Long by two of the MOD fast launches - in fact we had been alerted to something going on by seeing one of them racing out along the Firth as we were driving for the ferry.    Those launches are normally seen accompanying nuclear submarines as they come in after their tour of duty,.