RFA Broomdale

Last updated

RFA Broomdale.jpg
History
British-Royal-Fleet-Auxiliary-Ensign.svg United Kingdom
NameRFA Broomdale
Ordered1936
Builder Harland and Wolff, Govan
Laid downJanuary 1937
Launched2 September 1937
Commissioned3 November 1937
Decommissioned12 April 1959
FateArrived at Bruges for scrapping on 2 January 1960
General characteristics
Class and type Dale-class fleet tanker
Displacement17,388 long tons full load
Length483 ft 1 in (147.24 m)
Beam61 ft 8 in (18.80 m)
Draught27 ft 5 in (8.36 m)
PropulsionBurmeister & Wain 6-cylinder diesels with a single shaft. 490 nhp
Speed11.5 knots (21.3 km/h)
Complement44

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.

Contents

Construction and design

The ship was ordered from the British Tanker Company of London from Harland and Wolff and was laid down on 29 December 1936 with Yard number 975. She was one of six tankers purchased during construction by the British Government to allow replacement of worn out ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. [1] [2] She was launched as Broomdale on 2 September 1937, [3] and was completed on 3 November 1937, entering service the same day. [1]

Broomdale was 481 feet 6 inches (146.76 m) long overall and 464 feet 3 inches (141.50 m) between perpendiculars, with a beam of 62 feet (19 m) and a draught of 21 feet (6.4 m). She was powered by Doxford diesel engines rated at 4,000 brake horsepower (3,000 kW), giving a speed of 11.5 knots (21.3 km/h; 13.2 mph). [3] Broomdale displaced 17,338 long tons (17,616 t), with a deadweight tonnage of 11,650 long tons (11,840 t). [3] The ship had a Gross register tonnage of 8334 tons and a Net register tonnage of 4967 tons. [4] The ship had a complement of 40. [3]

Service

While undergoing sea trials at Glasgow on 4 February 1938, Broomdale was involved in a collision with the New Zealand Shipping Company's cargo passenger ship SS Ruahine. Broomdale underwent repairs at Greenock. [1] She spent the first year of the war operating between bases in Scotland and Norway, on 16 May 1940 she was attacked by four dive bombers and suffered minor damage from two near misses. [1] Towards the end of 1940 she was moved to operations in the South Atlantic based at Port Stanley.

In April 1942 she was assigned to the British Eastern Fleet at Ceylon. She took part in Operation Stab and spent the next three years fuelling and escorting convoys across the Indian Ocean. On 14 April 1944 she sustained minor damage from the explosion of the ammunition ship Fort Stikine, and then in August was accidentally torpedoed by the submarine HMS Severn, rupturing two tanks and killing one. [1]

After a brief trip back to the UK and the end of hostilities she was sent to the Far East, visiting Shanghai, Tokyo, Yokohama and Hong Kong.

She was refitted in 1947 and continued service across the world until sold in November 1959 and broken up two months later.

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "RFA Broomdale". Historical RFA. Royal Fleet Auxiliary Historical Society. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  2. ↑ "Broomdale". The Yard. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  3. 1 2 3 4 Blackman 1953 , p. 77
  4. ↑ "Lloyd's Register of Shipping 1938–39: BRO–BRU: 71373: Broomdale" (PDF). Retrieved 23 February 2019– via Southampton City Council.

Related Research Articles

RFA <i>Fort Rosalie</i> (A385) Lead ship of her class of replenishment ship of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary

RFA Fort Rosalie was the lead ship of her class of Royal Fleet Auxiliary fleet replenishment ships. Fort Rosalie was originally named RFA Fort Grange, but was renamed in May 2000 to avoid confusion with the now-decommissioned RFA Fort George. On 31 March 2021, the ship was withdrawn from service.

RFA Eddyfirth (A261) was an Eddy class coastal tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

RFA <i>Northmark</i> Royal Navy vessel

Nordmark was a former Kriegsmarine combination oiler and supply vessel which was allocated to the Royal Navy by the Inter-Allied Repatriations Commission when British forces entered Copenhagen on 9 May 1945.

RFA <i>Wave Chief</i> 1946 Wave-class oiler of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary

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 <i>Wave Laird</i> 1946 Wave-class oiler of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary

RFA Wave Laird (A119) was an 8,187 GRT Wave-class fleet support tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. She was built in 1946 as Empire Dunbar by Sir J Laing & Sons Ltd, Sunderland, Co Durham for the Ministry of Transport and completed at Wave Laird. She served until 1961 when she was laid up at HMNB Devonport. Wave Laird was scrapped in 1970 in Spain.

RFA <i>Abbeydale</i> 1937 Dale-class replenishment oiler for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary

RFA Abbeydale (A109) was a fleet tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary and was originally one of six ships ordered by the British Tanker Co which were purchased on the stocks by the Admiralty. She was built by Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson Ltd and launched on 28 December 1936. Abbeydale served until being decommissioned on 18 September 1959 and laid up at HMNB Devonport. She was then sold for scrapping, arriving at the Thos. W. Ward breakers' yards at Barrow-in-Furness on 4 September 1960.

RFA <i>Arndale</i> 1937 Dale-class replenishment oiler for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary

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 <i>Wave Victor</i> 1946 Wave-class oiler of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary

RFA Wave Victor (A220) was an 8,187 GRT Wave-class fleet support tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary built at Haverton Hill-on-Tees by Furness Shipbuilding Company. She was built in 1942 as Empire Bounty for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). She was transferred to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in 1946 and renamed Wave Victor with Pennant number X130. Her pennant number was later changed to A220. She served until scrapped in 1981.

Dale-class oiler Class of replenishment oilers for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary

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.

HMS Hodgeston was a Ton-class minesweeper which saw service with the Royal Navy during the Cold War. Built by Fleetlands Shipyard, she was launched on 6 April 1954 and broken up in 1988.

SS <i>Polar Chief</i> British merchant steamship

SS Polar Chief was a merchant steamship that was built in England in 1897 and scrapped in Scotland in 1952. In her 55-year career she had previously been called Montcalm, RFA Crenella, Crenella, Rey Alfonso, Anglo-Norse and Empire Chief. Early in the First World War she spent eight months pretending to be the battleship HMS Audacious.

Wave Ruler was a 8,138 GRT Wave-class oiler that was built in 1946 as Empire Evesham by Furness Shipbuilding Co Ltd, Haverton Hill-on-Tees, Co Durham, United Kingdom for the British Ministry of Transport. In 1947, she was transferred to the Admiralty and commissioned into the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) as Wave Ruler. She was in active service until 1970 when she was hulked in the Maldive Islands, serving RAF Gan until 1975. She was sold in 1976 and scrapped in Taiwan in 1977.

HMS <i>Menestheus</i> Cargo ship that was converted into a minelayer and amenities ship

HMS Menestheus was originally the Blue Funnel Line refrigerated cargo ship Menestheus. She was built in 1929, and traded between the UK and the Far East. She was an auxiliary minelayer from 1940 to 1943. When the Second World War in 1945, she was undergoing conversion into an amenities ship. She was scrapped in 1953 after being gutted by fire.

HMS Teviot Bank was a Bank Line steamship that was built in England in 1938 as the cargo ship Teviotbank. In the Second World War she was a Royal Navy auxiliary minelayer. By 1956 a Panamanian company had bought her and renamed her Nella. She was scrapped in Italy in 1971.

RFA Darkdale was a Dale-class fleet tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA), launched on 23 July 1940 as Empire Oil, completed in November 1940 and transferred to the RFA as Darkdale. She was sunk during the Second World War on 22 October 1941 by the German submarine U-68. Her wreck in James Bay off Jamestown, Saint Helena continued to leak oil, posing a potential environmental threat to the coastal waters of Saint Helena, until Ministry of Defence divers drained the ship's tanks in 2015.

SS <i>Kuroshio Maru</i> Kawasaki-type oiler / Surf-class tanker of the Imperial Japanese Navy and the Admiralty

Kuroshio Maru was a tanker that was built in 1938 for Japanese owners. She was chartered by the Imperial Japanese Navy and Imperial Japanese Army during World War II: the ship was sunk in January 1945 at Takao, Formosa by American aircraft. Salvaged in 1946, she was allocated as a war prize to China and renamed Yung Hao, but was forced to remain at Hong Kong by the British. She was requisitioned by the Admiralty during the Korean War and allocated to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. She was to have been named RFA Surf Pilot but due to her poor condition she did not serve in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. She served as Surf Pilot, a tender to HMS Terror until 1958 and was subsequently scuttled off Pulau Aur, Malaya in 1960.

RFA <i>Wave Baron</i> Wave-class oiler of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary

Wave Baron was a 8,159 GRT Wave-class oiler that was built in 1946 as Empire Flodden by Furness Shipbuilding Co Ltd, Haverton Hill-on-Tees, County Durham, United Kingdom for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). She was transferred to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary and renamed Wave Baron. She was withdrawn from service in 1969 and scrapped in 1972.

SS Ruahine was a UK-built ocean liner and refrigerated cargo ship. She was launched in 1909 in Scotland for the New Zealand Shipping Company, who operated her in scheduled service between Britain and New Zealand. She survived both World wars.

<i>Lothringen</i> (oil tanker) WWII-era oil tanker

Lothringen was an oil tanker ordered for Dutch shipowner Phs. Van Ommeren under the name Papendrecht in Rotterdam. On 16 May 1940, the Kriegsmarine seized her when the ship was still under construction and she was renamed Lothringen. She was commissioned on 23 January 1941. The ship became the property of Erste Deutsche Walfang-Gesellschaft of Hamburg who converted her into a support ship for naval operations by the German battleship Bismarck and cruiser Prinz Eugen in the Atlantic. On 15 June 1941, Lothringen was captured by the British light cruiser HMS Dunedin and taken into service of the Admiralty, crewed by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. It was renamed Empire Salvage in 1941 and served the Allies for the remainder of the war. After the war, it was handed back to its owners.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sieling & Jarvis</span> Shipping company that operated tanker ships

Sieling & Jarvis Inc. was a shipping company that operated tanker ships and some cargo ships. Sieling & Jarvis was started by David B. Jarvis and Dick Sieling in New York City. Later David B. Jarvis was the company president and later became the sole owner of Sieling & Jarvis Inc. Mr. Sieling was the vice president and a partner in Sieling & Jarvis. Sieling & Jarvis supported the World War II effort by operating United States owned ships.

References


This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.