Dale-class tanker
Class overview | |
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Name | Dale class |
Builders | |
Operators | ![]() |
Preceded by | Leaf class |
Succeeded by | Rover class |
In service | 1967–1977 |
Completed | 3 |
Retired | 3 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Mobile reserve tanker |
Displacement |
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Length |
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Beam |
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Draught |
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Propulsion | Burmeister and Wain Diesels |
Speed |
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Complement |
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The Dale class consisted of three tankers chartered for service for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in 1967. They served for a number of years supporting Royal Navy and allied fleet operations, during which one, , was lost. The remaining two were returned to their original owners in the mid-1970s.
Overview[]
Three large modern tankers, built to varying designs in the mid-1960s, were charted by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary to support naval operations east of the Suez Canal, in the waters of the Indian Ocean and the Far East.[1] They were given traditional RFA names, reusing three names that had been used for the Second World War-era Dale-class oilers. They were not fitted with equipment to allow them to replenish ships at sea, and were classified instead as 'Mobile Reserve Tankers'.[1]
The smallest, RFA Ennerdale was also the shortest lived. She hit a coral reef and sank off Port Victoria on 1 June 1970.[1] The wreck was subsequently destroyed with explosives fired from Wessex helicopters to prevent an oil spillage from threatening the Seychelles.[1] was returned to her original owners in 1974, but RFA Dewdale remained in service until 1977.[2] During this time Dewdale saw service with the Aden task force during the British withdrawal in 1967, and was then active then on the Beira Patrols.[2] She was the last to leave service with the RFA, being returned in 1977 and commencing service under her old name of Edenfield.[2]
Ships[]
Name | Pennant | Builder | Previous name | Fate |
A221 | Hitachi | Halcyon Breeze | Returned in 1974 | |
Dewdale | A129 | Harland and Wolff | Edenfield | Decommissioned in September 1977 |
A213 | Kieler Howaldstwerke | Naess Scotsman | Wrecked on 1 June 1970 |
Notes[]
- ^ a b c d Olver. "Dale Group Mobile Reserve Tankers (AOM)". Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2009.
- ^ a b c "RFA Dewdale". Royal Fleet Auxiliary Historical Society. Retrieved 8 March 2009.
References[]
- Colledge, J.J. Ships of the Royal Navy: An Historical Index Volume 2: Navy-built Trawlers, Drifters, Tugs and Requisitioned Ships. Newton Abbot: David & Charles.
- Auxiliary replenishment ship classes
- Tankers of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary