Previous name:                        Buyo Maru

Official Nnmber:                       140285
                                                                      
Class:                                         Freighting Tanker

Pennant No:                             Y7.188

Laid down:                                1907
Builder:                                      Armstrong, Whitworth, Newcastle
Launched:                                 19 December 1907
Into Service:                              1915

Out of service:                          1946

Fate:                                           Broken up

Items of historic interest involving this ship: -

Background Data:  Purchased by the Admiralty from commercial owners, she was used for naval oil freighting duties, mainly on a run from Chatham to Bermuda with naval stores then down to Trinidad to load oil for U.K. bases. Was the sister ship of RFA LUCIGEN

19 December 1907  launched by Sir W.G. Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd, Newcastle as Yard Nr 804 for H.E. Moss & Co Ltd, Liverpool but was sold to Toyo Kisen Kabushika Kaisha, Yokohama and named BUYO MARU

February 1908 completed

1915 purchased by the Admiralty, placed under management of Anglo Saxon Petroleum Co  Ltd, London  and was renamed DELPHINULA

24 August 1918 torpedoed by a German submarine - U65 - in the Mediterranean at 35.42N. 22.16E while on passage, in ballast,  from Naples to Malta and then Milo in an escorted unnumbered convoy of eleven ships. The ship was damaged but there were no fatalities and she was able to reach Suda Bay, Crete under her own steam

13 October 1918 Able Seaman Ah Ping discharged dead. He was buried in Suda Bay War Cemetery, Crete, Greece in grave X1 B 19

Courtesy and © of The War Graves Photographic Project

4 August 1920 sailed Galveston, USA to Liverpool

21 October 1920 arrived at Portsmouth to discharge having sailed from Port Arthur Texas

31 January 1921 Cook George Albert Ernest Ettie discharged dead at Cape Town, South Africa - he is buried in Woltemade Cemetery, Cape Town, South Africa - he died of Malaria -See full details by clicking  here

17 April 1923 Mr H C Etty RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

22 May 1924 Captain F J Sweeting RFA appointed as Master

6 October 1925 Mr F L Angus RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

21 January 1926 at 5.27pm in the Firth of Clyde off Cloch Point while in ballast from Old Kilpatrick to Trinidad was involved in a collision with ss Belfri. Delphinula suffered damage to the starboard bow between the hawse pipe to the break of the forecastle all above the water line. She proceeded up river to Rothesay Dock for survey. The collision later became the subject of High Court action on 15 June 1926 and this was reported in Lloyds List Law reports.

9 December 1926 Captain W A Wooster RFA appointed as Master

14 December 1926 Mr L A Sharp RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

14 December 1926 sailed Portsmouth for Kingston, Jamaica arriving on 29 December 1926

7 February 1927 berthed at Tai-o-hae Bay, Nukahiva, Marquesas Islands to await the arrival and then replenish the battlecruiser HMS Renown with the Duke & Duchess of York onboard 

1 August 1928 Mr John B Russell RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

18 October 1928 Captain W. A. Wooster RFA appointed as Master

11 December 1929 Mr E K Horsley RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

17 November 1930 Captain W H Green RFA appointed as Master

19 May 1932 Mr W Maybray RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

1 June 1933 Captain W J Shipton RFA appointed as Master

20 August 1934 Mr A Nicholls RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

1936 the management contract was terminated and she was withdrawn from service and  became a fuel hulk, first at Alexandria then at the Destroyer Pens at Gibraltar where it remain through out World War 2

RFA Delphinula as a hulk alongside the detached mole in Gibraltar during World War 2

8 November 1946 sold for £10,000 to Spanish breakers

13 September 1947 arrived under her own steam at Pasajes, Spain for breaking up