| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Name | Dale class |
| Builders | |
| Operators |
Royal Fleet Auxiliary |
| Preceded by | Leaf class |
| Succeeded by | Rover class |
| In service | 1967–1977 |
| Completed | 3 |
| Retired | 3 |
| General characteristics | |
| Type | Mobile reserve tanker |
| Displacement |
|
| Length |
|
| Beam |
|
| Draught |
|
| Propulsion | Burmeister and Wain Diesels |
| Speed |
|
| Complement |
|
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, Ennerdale, was lost. The remaining two were returned to their original owners in the mid-1970s.
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. [1]
They were given traditional RFA names, reusing three names that had been used for the Second World War-era Dale-class oilers. They were not fitted with equipment to allow them to replenish ships at sea, and were classified instead as 'Mobile Reserve Tankers'. [1]
The smallest, RFA Ennerdale was also the shortest lived. She hit a coral reef and sank off Port Victoria on 1 June 1970. [1] The wreck was subsequently destroyed with explosives fired from Wessex helicopters to prevent an oil spillage from threatening the Seychelles. [1]
RFA Derwentdale was returned to her original owners in 1974, but RFA Dewdale remained in service until 1977. [2] 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. [2] She was the last to leave service with the RFA, being returned in 1977 and commencing service under her old name of Edenfield. [2]
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. [3] These vessels were the largest in the RFA fleet at the time. [4]
| Dale-Class Mobile Reserve Tankers | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tonnages | ||||
| Name | Gross register tonnage | Net register tonnage | Deadweight tonnage | Displacement (full load 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 |
| Dimensions | ||||
| Name | Length oa | Beam | Draught | Depth |
| 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 | Speed |
| 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 |
| Name | Pennant | Builder | Laid down | Launched | Completed | In RFA Service | Fate |
| Derwentdale (ex-Halcyon Breeze) | A221 | Hitachi, Innoshima, Japan | - | 18 January 1964 | April 1964 | 1967 – 1975 | to previous owners, then sold and renamed Alnajdi |
| Dewdale (ex-Edenfield) | A129 | Harland & Wolff, Belfast, Northern Ireland | - | 5 March 1965 | 2 July 1965 | August 1967 - September 1977 | to previous owners as Edenfield, then sold and renamed World Field |
| Ennerdale (ex-Naess Scotsman) | A213 | Kieler Howaldstwerke Kiel, Germany | - | 31 August 1962 | 1963 | 1967 – 1970 | Wrecked and sunk on 1 June 1970 |
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. [5] She began her RFA charter on 17 June 1967. [3]
Dewdale was launched as Edenfield for Hunting (Eden) Tankers Ltd, managed by Hunting & Son Ltd, by Harland & Wolff on 5 March 1965 [5] and began her charter on 14 August 1967. [6]
Ennerdale was launched on 31 August 1963 as Naess Scotsman for the Anglo-Norness Shipping Co Ltd [5] and began her charter in July 1967. [7]
- ^ a b c d Olver. "Dale Group Mobile Reserve Tankers (AOM)". Archived from the original on 5 June 2011. Retrieved 8 March 2009.
- ^ a b c "RFA Dewdale". Royal Fleet Auxiliary Historical Society. Retrieved 8 March 2009.
- ^ a b "RFA Derwentdale - Historical RFA". historicalrfa.uk. 25 October 2008. Retrieved 30 July 2024.
- ^ Puddefoot 2009, p. 193.
- ^ a b c Puddefoot 2009, p. 194.
- ^ "RFA Dewdale - Historical RFA". historicalrfa.uk. 25 October 2008. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
- ^ "RFA Ennerdale - Historical RFA". historicalrfa.uk. 26 October 2008. Retrieved 31 July 2024.
- Colledge, J.J. Ships of the Royal Navy: An Historical Index Volume 2: Navy-built Trawlers, Drifters, Tugs and Requisitioned Ships. Newton Abbot: David & Charles.
- Puddefoot, Geoff (2009). The Fourth Force The Untold Story of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary since 1945. Barnsley, South Yorkshire, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-046-8.