"White mark of death" painted on stricken RFA Argus still stuck at Portsmouth Royal Navy base amid scrap talks
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A broken naval support ship that has been stuck at Portsmouth Naval Base for several months still faces an uncertain future - with a “white mark of death” was painted on her.
The Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel RFA Argus has not been operational since July 2025. She had her safety certification withdrawn after the ship was deemed to be in a decrepit state and unsafe to sail.
No decision has been made about her re-joining the support fleet. A white line painted along the vessel has been spotted by the public, with workers seen applying it on January 20. Defence commentators on social media describe it as the “white mark of death”. This is often applied to the waterline to signal if a ship is taking on water.
Captain Simon Booth, who served in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary for 37 years, said the white line can be an indicator that a ship is going to be laid up - temporarily taken out of service. Discussions about whether to scrap the 28,000 tonne ship are ongoing due to the costs to fix her and her age.
“I’m not surprised,” the former RFA Argus Commander told The News. “As I’ve said before, it’s absolutely ridiculous that we haven’t done anything to replace her already. We should have done it when I was working in the MoD in 2006.”
RFA Argus is a Primary Casualty Receiving Ship, designed to provide extensive medical care to sailors and marines at sea for a long period of time. She has a fully-equipped 100-bed medical complex on board; including an emergency department, resuscitation and surgical facilities, and a radiology suite complete with a CT scanner.
The ship, formerly a commercial vessel called MV Contender Bezant, was requisitioned in 1982 for service in the Falklands War. Since then she has been deployed extensively across the globe, but fell into a state of disrepair - noticed by officials from the Maritime and Coastguard Agency, and Lloyds Register.
Capt Booth previously described several faults that plagued RFA Argus during his service, including issues with the steering gear. “It’s a unique capability we’re going to lose,” he added. “They like the idea of replacing it with a hospital on a Bay-class landing ship (LSDA), but it’s nothing like the same. Not even close.
“If you take the Royal Marines into a combat situation, you need something to look after them. That’s what RFA Argus is. We’ve been talking about possibly replacing her or not for more than 20 years, but they’ve done nothing about it. They have always kicked it into the long grass.”
Support ships play a critical role in extending Royal Navy deployments in conflict zones. RFA Tidespring and Tideforce joined much of Operation Highmast Carrier Strike Group deployment in the Indo-Pacific, lead by HMS Prince of Wales. Various high-intensity military drills and diplomatic visits were completed.
Capt Booth believes a commercial ship should be acquired and converted as a replacement, as it would be “the most sensible option”. “You’ve got modern ships that are relatively cheap, and the conversion is not difficult,” he added. “We’ve done it before. Building bespoke would be incredibly expensive and time-consuming, because we’ve failed to invest in ship-building, we don’t really have the industry for it.”
A Royal Navy spokesperson said: “RFA Argus is being held at a state of extended readiness and remains crewed at HMNB Portsmouth while awaiting a final decision on her future.”