RFA Cairndale
RFA Cairndale in 1939
Previous name: Erato
Subsequent name:
Official Number: 167165
Class: 1st DALE CLASS Freighting Tanker
Pennant No: X36
Laid down:
Builder: Harland & Woolf, Belfast
Launched: 25 October 1938
Into Service: 26 January 1939
Out of service: 30 May 1941
Fate: Sunk
Items of historic interest involving this ship: -
Background Data: Originally there were to have been 19 ships in this Class. The first 6 were purchased off the stocks fro the British Tanker Co Ltd whilst building at the instigation of the then Director of Stores, Sir William Gick, who was concerned at the age of the RFA Fleet and ships that were approaching the end of their economic lives. A further 2 ships were purchased from Anglo Saxon Petroleum Co Ltd for evaluation purposes. At the outbreak of WW2, a further 11 ships were acquired from the MoWT war programme although one of these, to have been named EPPINGDALE, which had been registered in London as EMPIRE GOLD on 21/02/43 and intended for transfer to the Admiralty for manning and management as an RFA and despite 5 Officers being appointed to her, the intended transfer was cancelled the following day and she thus never entered RFA service. 3 of this Class were converted into LSG’s and were then reconverted back into tankers at the end of the War
25 October 1938 launched by Harland & Wolff Ltd, Belfast as Yard Nr 1014 named ERATO for Anglo Saxon Petroleum Co Ltd, London
16 December 1938 Mr J G Black RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer
3 January 1939 Captain Reginald J Harland RFA appointed as Master
26 January 1939 completed. After running trials she was purchased by the Admiralty for evaluation purposes and was renamed CAIRNDALE
August 1939 sailed Plymouth for the Clyde arriving 21 August 1939
1 September 1939 Mr J B D Payne RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer
4 September 1939 sailed Old Kilpatrick, Clyde to Avonmouth and loaded approximately 150 drums of petrol as deck cargo
12 September 1939 sailed Avonmouth - independent to Milford Haven
14 September 1939 sailed Milford Haven in convoy OB4 to Freetown, Sierra Leone to act as base oiler arriving 26 September 1939
7 February 1940 sailed Freetown independently for Dakar - arrived 10 February 1940
12 February 1940 sailed Dakar independently for Freetown - arrived 14 February 1940
1 April 1940 sailed Trinidad independently to Freetown
11 April 1940 sailed Freetown independently to Dakar arriving 14 April 1940
19 April 1940 sailed Dakar independently to Trinidad arriving 27 April 1940
6 May 1940 arrived at Bermuda
7 May 1940 sailed Bermuda in convoy BHX41 joining convoy HX41 which had sailed from Halifax on 13 May 1941to the Clyde arriving 23 May 1940
20 June 1940 under going repairs on the Clyde.
27 June 1940 sailed the Clyde independently to Scapa Flow arriving two days later
7 July 1940 sailed Scapa Flow independently to the Clyde arriving two days later
17 July 1940 sailed Milford Haven to Gibraltar in Convoy OG38 arriving 29 July 1940
20 August 1940 Captain S G Kent RFA appointed as Master
13 October 1940 sailed Gibraltar independently to Curacao arriving 27 October 1940
4 November 1940 sailed Curacao independently to Gibraltar arriving 19 November 1940
6 April 1941 with HMS/m PANDORA at 32-30N, 32-30W
1941 the ships engineers of RFA Cairndale constructed a lectern and presented it to the Minister and congregation of St. Andrew's Church, Governors Parade, Gibraltar
The Lectern is still in daily use in the church (2010)
17 April 1941berthed at Gibraltar under the escort of HMS/m PANDORA
28 April 1941 in drydock at Gibraltar
25 May 1941 Fitted for OAS operations, she sailed from Gibraltar with the store ship City of Dieppe escorted by the submarine HMS SEVERN to act as the oiler for Force H, the Squadron hunting the German battle cruiser BISMARCK and patrolled in the vicinity of 43.00 N 35.00 W. After the BISMARCK was sunk, she was ordered to return to Gibraltar
30 May 1941 When in position 35.19 N 08.33 E, 100 miles NW of Casablanca in the Eastern Atlantic under escort of HM corvettes COREOPSIS and FLEUR DE LYS torpedoed with two torpedoes by the Italian submarine Guglielmo Marconi and sank in four minutes. Four members of the crew were killed and have no known grave but the sea. The three who died are remembered with pride on the Tower Hill Memorial and one on the Halifax Memorial, Canada. Her Master and other survivors were saved by the rescue tug HMS ST DAY and were landed at Gibraltar.
Three of those who died are recorded on the Tower Hill Memorial
One - Able Seaman Norman Cameron Macallister - is also remembered in Old Monkland Cemetery, Coatbridge, Lancashire
Notes:
1. Her and her sister RFA CEDARDALE were similar in dimensions (but not in appearance) to the six British Tanker Company ships purchased at the same time. In addition, they had two tanks built into their foreholds with a separate system, which held 75 tons of cargo lubricating oil. Two of the main cargo tanks had been blanked from the main cargo line to carry 1000 tons of petrol
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