The FMRO was an agency of the Ministry of Defence responsible for repair and maintenance of Royal Navy vessels.

FSL performs this task but also undertakes commercial work such as shiprepair, refitting, conversion and hull fabrication.

FSL was founded as a joint venture between Vosper Thornycroft (now VT Group) and GEC-Marconi.

In July 2008 BAE Systems and VT Group merged their military shipbuilding businesses to form BVT Surface Fleet.

A Biber German World War II midget submarine on display at the Royal Navy Submarine Museum was restored to working condition by apprentices from Fleet Support Limited on a sandwich course in 2003 under the guidance of Ian Clark.