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Dale-class tanker

Class of three tankers chartered for service for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary

Summary

Class of three tankers chartered for service for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary

Field	Value
sclass	2
section1	{{Infobox ship/image
section2	{{Infobox ship/class overview
name	Dale class
builders	*Kieler Howaldstwerke
operators	[[File:British-Royal-Fleet-Auxiliary-Ensign.svg	23px	RFA Ensign]] Royal Fleet Auxiliary
class_before
class_after
in_service_range	1967–1977
total_ships_completed	3
total_ships_retired	3
section3	{{Infobox ship/characteristics
type	Mobile reserve tanker
displacement	*Derwentdale: 88555 LT
*Dewdale: {{convert	67000	LT	t	0	abbr	on}}
*Ennerdale: {{convert	62000	LT	t	0	abbr	on}}
length	*Derwentdale: 799 ft
*Dewdale: {{convert	774	ft	m	abbr	on}}
*Ennerdale: {{convert	710	ft	m	abbr	on}}
beam	*Derwentdale: 117 ft
*Dewdale: {{convert	107	ft	m	abbr	on}}
*Ennerdale: {{convert	98	ft	m	abbr	on}}
draught	*Derwentdale: 42 ft
*Dewdale: {{convert	41	ft	m	abbr	on}}
*Ennerdale: {{convert	40	ft	m	abbr	on}}
propulsion	Burmeister and Wain Diesels
speed	*Derwentdale: 15.5 kn
complement	*Derwentdale: 56

Hitachi
Harland & Wolff
Dewdale: 67000 LT
Ennerdale: 62000 LT
Dewdale: 774 ft
Ennerdale: 710 ft
Dewdale: 107 ft
Ennerdale: 98 ft
Dewdale: 41 ft
Ennerdale: 40 ft
Dewdale: 15 kn
Dewdale and Ennerdale: 51

The Dale class consisted of three tankers chartered for service with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA), the naval auxiliary fleet of the United Kingdom. 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.

They were given traditional RFA names, reusing three names that had been used for the Second World War-era s. They were not fitted with equipment to allow them to replenish ships at sea, and were classified instead as 'Mobile Reserve Tankers'.

The smallest, RFA Ennerdale was also the shortest lived. She hit a coral reef and sank off Port Victoria on 1 June 1970. The wreck was subsequently destroyed with explosives fired from Wessex helicopters to prevent an oil spillage from threatening the Seychelles.

was returned to her original owners in 1974, but remained in service until 1977. 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. She was the last to leave service with the RFA, being returned in 1977 and commencing service under her old name of Edenfield.

Background

In July 1967, the MOD announced that it had bareboat chartered, for a period of seven years, three large tankers for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. These vessels were the largest in the RFA fleet at the time.

Comparison

Dale-Class Mobile Reserve Tankers	Tonnages	Name	Gross register tonnage	Net register tonnage
Derwentdale	42,343	28,288	73,375	88,555
Dewdale	35,642	24,504	63,588	67,000
Ennerdale	29,189	18,066	49,209	62,000
Derwentdale	798ft 11in	117ft 10in	42ft 6in	55ft 4in
Dewdale	774ft 6in	107ft 10in	41ft 5in	55ft
Ennerdale	710ft	98ft 7in	37ft 6in	51ft 10in

Machinery & Speed	Name	Engine	bhp	Shaft
Derwentdale	1 x Hitachi/B&W 9-cylinder diesel	20,700bhp	single shaft	15.5 knots
Dewdale	1 x H&W/B&W 9-cylinder diesel	17,000bhp	single shaft	15 knots
Ennerdale	1 x Krupp/B&W 8-cylinder diesel	16,800bhp	single shaft	15.5 knots

Ships

''Derwentdale''

Main article: RFA Derwentdale (A221)

Derwentdale was launched as Halcyon Breeze by Hitachi Zosen Corporation at its Innoshima, Hiroshima shipyard on 18 January 1964, for Caribbean Tankers Ltd, managed by Court Line(Ship Management) Ltd, London. She began her RFA charter on 17 June 1967.

''Dewdale''

Main article: RFA Dewdale (A129)

Dewdale was launched as Edenfield for Hunting (Eden) Tankers Ltd, managed by Hunting & Son Ltd, by Harland & Wolff on 5 March 1965 and began her charter on 14 August 1967.

''Ennerdale''

Main article: RFA Ennerdale (A213)

Ennerdale was launched on 31 August 1963 as Naess Scotsman for the Anglo-Norness Shipping Co Ltd and began her charter in July 1967.

Notes

References

Olver. "Dale Group Mobile Reserve Tankers (AOM)".
"RFA Dewdale". Royal Fleet Auxiliary Historical Society.
(25 October 2008). "RFA Derwentdale - Historical RFA".
(25 October 2008). "RFA Dewdale - Historical RFA".
(26 October 2008). "RFA Ennerdale - Historical RFA".

Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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