ATP/MTP-16 replenishment at sea procedures

What it is

NATO's technical publication for replenishment at sea

ATP/MTP-16, Replenishment at Sea, is the NATO Allied Tactical Publication that sets out the standard procedures, rigs, couplings and signals two ships use to transfer fuel, solid cargo, ammunition, personnel and mail while under way. The edition in front of us is Edition F, Version 1, promulgated May 2016, superseding Edition E, Version 1. Its own publication notice records four specific changes from that edition: removed language about U.S. Navy personnel on U.S. fleet auxiliaries in Chapter 1, an updated instruction for hauling down Flag Romeo in Chapter 4, updated French light-transfer load limits in Chapter 8, and updated rigid hull inflatable boat safety information, also in Chapter 8.

ATP/MTP-16 does not bind anyone by itself. It is covered by STANAG 1065, and it is the STANAG that NATO nations ratify; a nation then implements ATP/MTP-16 within its own navy, keeping the right to record reservations against particular chapters it cannot fully apply. This edition's own record of reservations shows that in practice: Bulgaria records that it cannot fully apply Chapters 6, 7, 8 and 9 for lack of technical equipment, and Italy reserves against Chapter 8's rigid hull inflatable boat toe-strap and immersion-suit requirements. The publication says these reservations are only those recorded at the time of promulgation, and points to the NATO Standardization Database for the complete, current list.

Who it addresses

The text speaks to the ships, commanders and crews that actually carry out a replenishment: the officer in tactical command, the replenishment force commander, the combatant force commander, and, within a replenishment unit, the control, delivering, receiving, approach, supplying and customer ship. It is not written for, and does not address, a commercial supplier or manufacturer. A company is drawn in only when a naval contract or a national authority specifies that equipment - a fueling rig, a coupling, a highline, a transfer-station fitting, the NATO standard long link - must be built or fitted to conform to what ATP/MTP-16 describes. A companion volume, ATP/MTP-16.1, carries each nation's own equipment, rig tables and ship diagrams; ATP/MTP-16 itself says users "are obliged to study both ATP/MTP-16 and ATP/MTP-16.1."

How the publication is organised

ATP/MTP-16 works chapter by chapter through four kinds of transfer, plus the communications, lighting, emergency and safety procedures common to all of them. A front-matter note fixes the vocabulary used throughout: "shall" is mandatory, "should" is recommended, "may" and "need not" are optional, and "will" indicates future time only, "never" indicating "any degree of requirement" - a convention worth knowing before reading any individual article.

Chapter 1 fixes command relationships and the roles each ship in a replenishment unit takes. Chapter 2 sets the message formats used to schedule a replenishment (OPSTAT RASREQ, OPTASK RAS, OPSTAT RAS, OPSTAT UNIT and OPSTAT CARGO) and carries data-sheet and conversion-table annexes. Chapter 3 covers maneuvering and station keeping, including ship-separation distances by rig type. Chapter 4 covers communications, flag and light signals, and night lighting. Chapter 5 covers emergency breakaway and safety precautions, including the required tool set at each transfer station and radio-frequency standoff distances near a fueling point. Chapter 6 covers the transfer of liquids, including the five NATO standard fueling couplings. Chapter 7 covers the transfer of solids, including ammunition and missiles, and the standard rig components used for it. Chapter 8 covers the transfer of personnel and light freight, including maximum rig loads and personal protective equipment. Chapter 9 covers vertical replenishment by helicopter, including operating-area classes and clearance dimensions.

What it actually specifies

The publication is concrete rather than aspirational: it names dimensions, weights, distances and static test loads throughout, each tied to a specific article. Some examples, cited to the clause they come from rather than offered as advice: Article 0620 defines five NATO standard couplings by size, position and commodity, and the NATO 1 probe rig it describes is explicitly barred from carrying F-18 aviation gasoline even though it carries other fuels; Article 0710.5 requires the NATO standard long link used between ships of different nations to be static-tested to 24,000 decaNewtons; Article 0733.3 sets minimum static test loads for a STREAM rig's receiving highpoint, from 1,800 kg for a non-tensioned rig up to 45,400 kg for heavy RAS; and Article 0724.2 requires any rig to be proved with a dummy or low-value load of comparable weight before live ammunition is transferred over it. Table 3-1 sets ship-separation distances by rig type during abeam replenishment, and Article 0323.6.b.5 sets a minimum of 30 meters between ships when a constant-tension rig is first put under tension.

The publication also draws hard lines. Astern fueling communications are by flashing light, flag hoist and hand signals only: Article 0441 states that "telephone communication between ships will not be used" for that method. A highline or jackstay that has been mechanically tensioned for stores "must not be used for the transfer of personnel," and a separate rig is carried for that purpose (Article 0812). Wearing an immersion suit is mandatory in water at or below 15°C, left to the commanding officer's discretion between 16°C and 20°C, and rarely of value above that (Article 0852.3).

How it references other publications

ATP/MTP-16 is covered by STANAG 1065, which is what gives it force between NATO nations. It also points to other NATO documents for detail it does not restate: ATP-02 for convoy and shipping-control procedures, APP-11 for the detailed formats of its scheduling signals, STANAG 1135 for full NATO fuel specifications, STANAG 1310 for the transfer-rate figure behind its astern fueling rig, and STANAG 1162 for the helicopter categories its vertical-replenishment clearance rules are built on. It also cites ATP 1/MTP 1 and MPP-02 repeatedly for formations, general signals and helicopter marshaling; neither carries a page or catalogue entry of its own here, so they are named rather than linked.

How conformance is checked

There is no certification for ATP/MTP-16 and no accredited body assesses it: the publication states its own purpose as providing "descriptive and procedural information" for conducting a replenishment, not an assessment scheme. Conformance works at two levels instead. Nationally, a navy implements the publication within its own fleet and records a reservation, in the NATO Standardization Database, where it cannot fully apply a chapter - exactly the mechanism this edition's own reservations for Bulgaria and Italy show in practice. At the equipment level, conformance is self-tested: highpoints and the standard long link carry specified static test loads, rigs are proved with a dummy load before ammunition is transferred, and detailed check-off lists are worked through before each fueling evolution. None of this is a certificate a company can hold.

Standards it references

• STANAG 1310Binds
• ATP-01Background
• ATP-02Background
• APP-11Background
• STANAG 1135Background
• AECP-02Background
• STANAG 1162Background