Engadine, somewhere between 1969 and 1973, Falmouth, on the south coast of Cornwall (Falmouth Submarine pier in foreground). | |
History | |
---|---|
United Kingdom | |
Name | RFA Engadine |
Ordered | 18 August 1964 |
Builder | Henry Robb Ltd, Leith |
Laid down | 9 August 1965 |
Launched | 16 September 1966 |
Commissioned | 15 December 1967 |
Decommissioned | March 1989. Laid up at Devonport. |
Identification |
|
Fate | Scrapped 23 September 1996 |
Badge | Two crossed alphorns surrounded by 12 edelweiss flowers on a dark blue background. |
General characteristics | |
Type | Helicopter Support Ship |
Displacement | 8,950 tons (full load) |
Length | 129.31 metres (424 ft 3 in) |
Beam | 17.86 metres (58.6 feet) |
Draught | 7 metres (22 ft 6 in) |
Installed power | 5,500 bhp |
Propulsion | 1 × 5 cylinder Sulzer marine diesel. One shaft. |
Speed | 16 knots (30 km/h) |
Complement | 63 RFA + 32 RN + 131 under training |
Aircraft carried | 4 × Westland Wessex Or 2 × Westland Sea King and 2 × Westland Wasp helicopters |
RFA Engadine (K08) was a helicopter support ship of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. [1] [2] [3]
The need for Engadine was seen in the mid-1960s as more and more helicopters were deployed from Royal Navy aircraft carriers and surface combatants. The ship was ordered in August 1964, from Henry Robb of Leith, and commissioned in December 1967, replacing HMS Lofoten. She was the third British ship named HMS Engadine the previous two being a seaplane carrier and an aircraft transport ship. Engadine comes from the Engadin valley in south-east Switzerland, which is represented by the alphorns and edelweiss on her badge. [4]
In 1968 she was designated as one of the PYTHON locations for the dispersal and continuity of government in the event of nuclear war. [5]
Engadine's homeport throughout her career was Portland, Dorset. During the 1976 crisis in Lebanon she was deployed as part of contingency planning to evacuate British citizens.
At the Silver Jubilee fleet review in 1977 she followed the royal yacht HMY Britannia.
In the Falklands War she was a helicopter support and refuelling ship in San Carlos Water.
By the mid-1980s Engadine was becoming obsolescent so the container ship MV Contender Bezant was bought for conversion, becoming RFA Argus. Engadine was decommissioned in 1989 and sold to new owners in Greece. She arrived at Piraeus on 18 February 1990 after being bought by Greek owners for a new service which never materialised and the ship was laid up, name unchanged. She was sold for scrap and arrived at Alang for demolition on 7 May 1996 which commenced on 23 September 1996. [4]
RFA Orangeleaf was a Leaf-class fleet support tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA), the naval auxiliary fleet of the United Kingdom, and which served with the fleet for over 30 years, tasked with providing fuel, food, fresh water, ammunition and other supplies to Royal Navy and allied naval vessels around the world.
RFA Argus is a ship of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary operated by the Ministry of Defence under the Blue Ensign. Italian-built, Argus was formerly the container ship MVContender Bezant. The ship was requisitioned in 1982 for service in the Falklands War and purchased outright in 1984 for a four-year conversion to an Aviation Training Ship, replacing RFA Engadine. In 1991, during the Gulf War, she was fitted with an extensive and fully functional hospital to assume the additional role of Primary Casualty Receiving Ship. In 2009, the PCRS role became the ship's primary function. Argus is due to remain in service beyond 2030. In July 2022 it was reported that the future Littoral Strike Role would be assumed by Argus after a refit to convert her to this role. As of October 2023, Argus had started her deployment to serve as part of Littoral Response Group (South).
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RFA Reliant (A131) was a helicopter support ship of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. She was built in 1977 in Poland, at the Gdańsk Shipyard, as a conventional container ship with roll-on/roll-off capability for loading vehicles and containers for the Harrison Line. She was named Astronomer. She was taken up from the trade in 1982 for service in the Falklands War as an aircraft transport, being fitted with a temporary mid-ships flight deck and hangar forward to carry 13 helicopters.
RFA Lyme Bay is a Bay-class auxiliary dock landing ship of the British Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA). Ordered from Swan Hunter in 2000, the ship was launched in 2005. However, cost overruns and delays saw the shipbuilder removed from the project, and the incomplete ship was towed to Govan for finishing by BAE Systems Naval Ships. Lyme Bay entered service in late 2007; the last ship of the class to join the RFA.
RFA Mounts Bay is a Bay-class auxiliary landing ship dock of the British Royal Fleet Auxiliary. She is named after Mount's Bay in Cornwall. As of 2024, Mounts Bay is the principal vessel assigned to the Royal Navy's Littoral Response Group (North).
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