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History | |
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Name | Black Ranger |
Ordered | 28 August 1939 |
Builder | Harland and Wolff, Govan [1] |
Yard number | 1046 [1] |
Laid down | 12 October 1939 |
Launched | 22 August 1940 |
Completed | 27 January 1941 [1] |
Commissioned | 27 January 1941 |
Decommissioned | April 1973 |
Stricken | 1975 |
Identification | IMO number: 5045938 |
Fate | Sold commercially in July 1973. Scrapped May 1983 |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Ranger-class fleet support tanker |
Displacement | 6,700 long tons (6,808 t) full load |
Length | 365 ft 10 in (111.51 m) |
Beam | 47 ft (14 m) |
Draught | 20 ft 2 in (6.15 m) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 13 knots (15 mph; 24 km/h) |
Range | 6,000 nmi (11,000 km) at 13 kn (15 mph; 24 km/h) |
Complement | 40 |
RFA Black Ranger (A163) was a British diesel-powered Ranger-class fleet support tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, built by Harland & Wolff at their yard in Govan. On 27 February 1941, shortly after her commissioning, she was involved in a collision with the French destroyer Mistral which sustained minor damage and Black Ranger spent a short period under repair on the Clyde. [2]
Black Ranger later served with the Arctic Convoys. In November 1960 she was involved in a collision with the submarine HMS Thule. She was retired from service in 1973 and put up for sale. Bought by Greek owners, she was renamed Petrola XIV in 1973 and then Petrola 14 in 1976. She was scrapped at Piraeus in May 1983. [2]
RFA Fort Victoria is a Fort-class combined fleet stores ship and tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary of the United Kingdom tasked with providing ammunition, fuel, food and other supplies to Royal Navy vessels around the world. She is now the only member of her class.
RFA Grey Rover (A269) was a Rover-class small fleet tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA). She was decommissioned in 2006.
RFA Wave King (A182) was a Wave-class fleet support tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary built at Govan by Harland & Wolff Ltd. In 1945, she served in the Far East with the British Pacific Fleet, designated Task Force 57 upon joining the United States fleet. On 6 May 1945 Wave King and Wave Monarch were with the Logistic Support Group 300 miles south-east of Miyako to refuel Task Force 57 which was launching air strikes against island targets in the Okinawa campaign.
RFA Wave Chief was a Wave-class fleet support tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary that was built in 1946 as SS Empire Edgehil by Harland & Wolff, Govan, Glasgow, United Kingdom.
RFA Blue Ranger (A157) was a Ranger-class fleet support tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. She was launched by Harland & Wolff from their Govan yard on 29 January 1941 and served until June 1966 when she was laid up in reserve at Devonport. In January 1972 she was sold commercially and renamed Korytsa. The ship was scrapped at Aliaga in September 1987.
RFA Brown Ranger (A169) was a Ranger-class fleet support tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. During the Second World War she played an important role in the Malta Convoys and in Pacific operations. From 24 September to 30 September 1941 Brown Ranger was deployed as part of Force S in Operation Halberd, refuelling the ships of convoy WS 11X, en route from the Clyde to Malta via Gibraltar. Brown Ranger deployed again from Gibraltar on 16 November 1941 as part of Operation Chieftain, returning on 18 November. On 11 June 1942 she was part of Force Y in Operation Harpoon, supplying the escorts of convoy WS 19Z.
RFA Derwentdale (A114) was a Dale-class fleet tanker and landing ship (gantry) of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. She served during the Second World War.
RFA Dingledale (A144) was a Dale-class fleet tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. She was first based at Gibraltar, and served as escort oiler on several Malta Convoys. During Operation Pedestal, together with RFA Brown Ranger, she fuelled one cruiser and 24 destroyers in 14 hours. Narrowly escaping damage during a severe air raid in Bône in December 1942, she survived to join the Pacific Fleet Train, and was present for the Japanese surrender in Tokyo Bay. After the war, she carried out routine freighting duties. She was decommissioned on 10 May 1959, and was laid up at Devonport.
RFA Arndale (A133) was a Dale-class fleet tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, originally one of six ships ordered by the British Tanker Company which were purchased on the stocks by the Admiralty. She was decommissioned on 12 August 1959 and was laid up at Rosyth.
RFA Broomdale (A168) was a Dale-class fleet tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. She spent much of her career in the Indian Ocean and Far East.
RFA Regent (A486) was an ammunition, explosives and stores supply ship in the 'Royal Fleet Auxiliary'. She was built by Harland and Wolff, commissioned in 1967 and took part in the Falklands War.
HMAS Supply was a Tide-class replenishment oiler of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) and the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Originally named Tide Austral and intended to be the first ship of a post-World War II Royal Australian Fleet Auxiliary, manpower and financial shortages meant that when the Belfast-built ship was launched in 1955, she could not be accepted into Australian service. Instead, she was loaned to the RFA, operating RFA Tide Austral (A99). In August 1962, the ship was commissioned directly into the RAN, then renamed a month later to HMAS Supply. Supply operated as part of the RAN until her decommissioning at the end of 1985.
HMS Charybdis (F75) was a Leander-class frigate of the Royal Navy (RN). She was built by the Harland & Wolff company of Belfast, and was the last ship to be built there for British naval forces until RFA Fort Victoria of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, was launched in 1990. Charybdis was launched on 28 February 1968 and commissioned on 2 June 1969. Her nickname was "Cherry B".
HMS Bergamot was a Flower-class corvette that served in the Royal Navy.
SS Traffic was a tender of the White Star Line, and the fleetmate to the Nomadic. She was built for the White Star Line by Harland and Wolff, at Belfast, to serve the Olympic-class ocean liners. In Cherbourg, her role was to transport Third Class passengers and mails between the port and the liners anchored in the harbour, while the Nomadic was tasked with transporting First Class and Second Class passengers.
The Ranger-class tanker was a series of six tankers built for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.
The Wave class was a class of replenishment oilers built for service supporting the Royal Navy during the later years of the Second World War. They were subsequently transferred to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary after the end of the war, and went on to support British and allied fleet units in Cold War conflicts such as the Korean War.
The Dale class were a class of replenishment oilers taken up for service with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, supporting the Royal Navy during the inter-war period. They went on to see action during the Second World War and supported British and allied fleet units in Cold War conflicts such as the Korean War.
SS Empire Metal was the name of two steamships in the service of the British Government.
The bombing of RFA Fort Victoria took place on 6 September 1990, when a unit of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) planted two bombs aboard the Royal Fleet Auxiliary replenishment ship at Harland and Wolff shipyard in Belfast, Northern Ireland, where the vessel had been launched four months before. One of them exploded in the engine room, causing flooding and serious damage. The second device didn't explode and was defused several days later. The attack resulted in a two-year delay before Fort Victoria became fully operational.