RFA Orangeleaf (A110)

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Orangeleaf.jpg
RFA Orangeleaf during refit at Cammell Laird, Birkenhead
History
British-Royal-Fleet-Auxiliary-Ensign.svgUnited Kingdom
NameRFA Orangeleaf
Builder Cammell Laird, Birkenhead
Yard number1362
Laid down20 December 1973
Launched12 February 1975
Completed28 June 1979
Commissioned1979 [1]
Decommissioned30 September 2015
In service2 May 1984
Out of service30 September 2015
Identification
Honours and
awards		 Al Faw 2003
Fate Scrapped 2016
General characteristics
Class and type Leaf-class fleet support tanker
Tonnage
Displacement40,860 t (40,215 long tons)
Length560 ft (170.69 m)
Beam85 ft (25.91 m)
Draught39 ft (11.89 m)
Installed power14,000 bhp (10,440 kW)
Propulsion
Speed15 knots (28 km/h)
Complement56
Armament
  • 2 20mm GAM-BO1
  • 4 7.62 mm GPMGs

RFA Orangeleaf was a Leaf-class fleet support tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary [2] (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.

Contents

She was used by the RFA in the Falklands War in 1982, but she was then known as MV Balder London. From January 2003 to April 2003 Orangeleaf was deployed for Operation Telic (Op TELIC), the codename for the United Kingdom's military operations in Iraq. She had three Leaf-class sisters Oakleaf, Brambleleaf and Bayleaf and all four were originally designed as commercial tankers and underwent major conversions to bring them up to RFA standards and equip them for naval support.

She was the third Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel to bear the name.

Construction

Orangeleaf was one of four ships ordered from Cammell Laird at Birkenhead by John Hudson Fuel and Shipping Ltd. (Hudson Steamship Co, Managers), Brighton, and she was laid down in 1973 as Hudson Progress. When the ordering company ran into financial difficulties the builders completed three of the ships but they were then laid up and later offered for charter or for purchase. On 12 February 1975 Hudson Progress was launched and the Lady Sponsor was Mrs J.E. Appleby, wife of Mr John Appleby, Managing Director of the Hudson Steamship Co. Ltd. She later ran builder’s trials in July 1975, but then on completion she was laid up at Birkenhead. [3]

In June 1979 Hudson Progress was purchased by Lloyds Industrial Leasing Ltd, London and sailed from the Mersey to the Clyde for trials. In July she was leased to Parley Augustsson (Management) AS, Oslo and renamed Balder London. [4]

Service history

As MV Balder London, [5] before joining the RFA, she saw action in 1982, carrying aviation fuel to the Falkland Islands from Ascension Island. At the end of the conflict, she entered the bay of San Carlos Water, East Falkland. [6]

She was bareboat chartered on 2 May 1984 by the Ministry of Defence (MoD) and was renamed RFA Orangeleaf. Shortly afterwards she arrived in Falmouth, Cornwall for a partial conversion. In September 1985 Orangeleaf arrived on the Tyne for full conversion which was completed and entered operational service on 2 May 1986. [3]

On 13 June 1988 she sailed from HMNB Portsmouth as part of Task Group 318.1, the 'Outback 88' Deployment led by the Invincible-class aircraft carrier HMS Ark Royal, along with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary’s Fort Rosalie-class replenishment ship RFA Fort Grange and Ol-class "fast fleet tanker" RFA Olwen. [7]

Orangeleaf saw action in the Gulf War. On 9 August 1990 she was deployed in support of the Type 42 destroyer HMS York, following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait, [8] and whilst on Armilla Patrol in the Gulf, when Operation Granby – the Gulf War – was approved. [9]

Between 14 and 28 August 1992 she was deployed to support a humanitarian relief effort in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew, in the West Indies, alongside the Type 42 destroyer HMS Cardiff and the Type 22 frigate HMS Campbeltown. [3]

During early-to-mid-2004, the ship took part in a deployment with a French carrier battle group, centred on the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle , to the Indian Ocean. She also appeared in the International Fleet Review of 2005.

On 23 October 2009, she was moved from Birkenhead dry-docks into the River Mersey and so to the Cammell Laird shipyard to continue a major refit.

In 2011, she conducted a light jackstay transfer with HMS Dragon. [10] She was decommissioned on 30 September 2015.

In late February 2016 she was towed to Aliağa, Turkey to be broken up for scrap. [11] [12] [13] Leyal reported scrapping was completed by June 2016. [14]

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RFA <i>Oakleaf</i> (A111) Leaf-class support tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary

RFA Oakleaf (A111) was a Leaf-class fleet support tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA), the naval auxiliary fleet of the United Kingdom, and the second ship to bear the name. Formerly the Swedish vessel MV Oktania, built by A. B. Uddevalla, Sweden, and completed in 1981, Oakleaf was added to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in 1986, before being decommissioned in 2007.

Three ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary have borne the name RFA Orangeleaf:

RFA <i>Brambleleaf</i> (A81) 1980 Leaf-class support tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary

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RFA <i>Olna</i> (A123) 1966 Ol-class fast fleet tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary

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Cammell Laird is a British shipbuilding company. It was formed from the merger of Laird Brothers of Birkenhead and Johnson Cammell & Co of Sheffield at the turn of the twentieth century. The company also built railway rolling stock until 1929, when that side of the business was separated and became part of the Metropolitan-Cammell Carriage & Wagon Company.

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References

Citations

  1. ↑ "ORANGELEAF". www.marinetraffic.com. Retrieved 9 December 2012.
  2. ↑ "The RFA ORANGELEAF". www.fleetmon.com. Retrieved 9 December 2012.
  3. 1 2 3 "RFA Orangeleaf - Historical RFA". historicalrfa.uk. 26 October 2008. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
  4. ↑ "Ship: ORANGELEAF - NAVAL TRANSPORT (IMO: 7342005)". shipvault.com. Retrieved 7 July 2024.
  5. ↑ "RFA Orangeleaf". www.royalnavy.mod.uk. Archived from the original on 19 January 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2012.
  6. ↑ Puddefoot 2009, p. 200.
  7. ↑ "Praise for RN Envoys" (PDF). Navy News. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
  8. ↑ "Recycling of Ex-RFA Ornagleleaf" (PDF). assests.publishing.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
  9. ↑ "Supplement to the London Gazette" (PDF). thegazette.co.uk. 29 June 1991. Retrieved 8 July 2024.
  10. ↑ "Dragon notches up another first as she conducts a Light Jackstay". Royal Navy. 27 March 2012. Archived from the original on 5 April 2012. Retrieved 8 November 2013.
  11. ↑ "Royal Fleet Auxiliary bids farewell to RFA Orangeleaf". Royal Navy. 29 September 2015. Archived from the original on 30 September 2015. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  12. ↑ "Last of the RFA Leaf Class Tankers to Retire". Navaltoday.com. 29 September 2015. Archived from the original on 2 November 2015. Retrieved 2 November 2015.
  13. ↑ "Farewell to Orangeleaf". navynews.co.uk. Retrieved 15 December 2015.
  14. ↑ https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/583144/DSA_ship_recycling_orangeleaf_Web.pdf [ bare URL PDF ]

Bibliography


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