UK SALMO uses new ROV for wartime wreck recovery

The XLX-C work-class remote-operated vehicle is a new acquisition to enhance the salvage capability of SALMO. It is operated and maintained by a team of SALMO staff and builds on SALMO’s long history of operating ROVs. (UK DE&S)

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has completed the first operation with a newly acquired Forum Energy Technologies (FET) deep-water remotely operated vehicle (ROV), Janes has learnt.

Procured last year to meet an urgent capability requirement (UCR), the XLX-C ROV was used by the MoD’s Salvage and Marine Operations (SALMO) team in January 2024 for an artefact recovery operation on a US Navy wartime wreck off the southwest coast of England. The MoD revealed details of the operation on 13 February, although it did not initially identify the ROV type.

SALMO is a specialist civilian team within the MoD’s Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) organisation, which provides support to the Royal Navy (RN) and other MoD agencies. SALMO’s role includes responding to any RN incidents at sea involving ships, submarines, and aircraft, and providing underwater engineering support to maintain RN vessels.