Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) vessels - Tidespring, Tiderace, Tidesurge and Tideforce .... nice names.
These four 37,000 ton Tide class vessels will become the newest of the RFA ships to support RN deployments worldwide, specifically also to accompany the Queen Elizabeth class carrier battle groups in the future. The first block has been laid for Tidespring and the first steel was cut for the next one Tiderace, last December.
Below is an artist's impression of what things may look like. Leading is an Astute class submarine, both sides of the carrier are two Type 45 destroyers followed by a Tide class tanker / replenishment vessel.
Credit Navy News
https://navynews.co.uk/archive/news/item/8265http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tide-class_tankerMaybe some naval exercises in the Baltic in time, with the Polish navy joining in, also some involvement by the three Baltic states, under the NATO umbrella of course ....
What shall we call these future exercises then - how about Operation Baltic Thunder for the naval part and Operation Freedom Forever for the beach assault landings on the Lithuanian coast. Nice and close to the Kaliningrad Oblast ....