Dale class tanker

Class overview
Name:	Dale class tanker
Builders:	Kieler Howaldstwerke Hitachi Harland and Wolff
Operators:	Royal Fleet Auxiliary
Preceded by:	Leaf class tanker
Succeeded by:	Rover class tanker
In service:	1967-1977
Completed:	3
Retired:	3
General characteristics
Type:	Mobile reserve tanker
Displacement:	Derwentdale: 88,555 long tons (89,976 t) Dewdale: 67,000 long tons (68,075 t) Ennerdale: 62,000 long tons (62,995 t)
Length:	Derwentdale: 799 ft (244 m) Dewdale: 774 ft (236 m) Ennerdale: 710 ft (220 m)
Beam:	Derwentdale: 117 ft 8 in (35.86 m) Dewdale: 107 ft (33 m) Ennerdale: 98 ft (30 m)
Draught:	Derwentdale: 42 ft 3 in (12.88 m) Dewdale: 41 ft (12 m) Ennerdale: 40 ft (12 m)
Propulsion:	Babcock and Wilcox Diesels
Speed:	Derwentdale: 15.5 knots (17.8 mph; 28.7 km/h) Dewdale: 15 knots (17 mph; 28 km/h)
Complement:	Derwentdale: 56 Dewdale and Ennerdale: 51

For the Dale class oilers of the Second World War, see Dale class oiler.

The Dale class consisted of three tankers chartered for service for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in 1967. They served for a number of years supporting Royal Navy and allied fleet operations, during which one, edit] 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.^[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] 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]

Ships

Name	Pennant	Builder	Previous name	Fate
Hitachi	Halcyon Breeze	Returned in 1974
Harland and Wolff	Edenfield	Decommissioned in September 1977
Kieler Howaldstwerke	Naess Scotsman	Wrecked on 1 June 1970

Notes

1. ^ ^{a b c d} Olver. "Dale Group Mobile Reserve Tankers (AOM)". http://www.btinternet.com/~warship/Postwar/RFA/dale.htm. Retrieved 8 March 2009. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} "RFA Dewdale". Royal Fleet Auxiliary Historical Society. http://www.historicalrfa.org/index.php/rfa-dewdale. Retrieved 8 March 2009. 

References

• 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.