RFA Derwentdale (1)
Previous name:
Subsequent name: Irvingdale 1
Official Number: 168212
Class: 1st DALE CLASS Freighting Tanker
Pennant No: X 14 / A114
Laid down: 14 November 1939
Builder: Harland & Woolf (Belfast)
Launched: 12 April 1941
Into Service: 30 August 1941
Out of service: 19 May 1959
Fate: Sold commercially.
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.
12 April 1941 launched by Harland & Wolff Ltd, Belfast as Yard Nr 1052 named DERWENTDALE (1) for the MoWT and originally intended for management by Eagle Oil Transport Co Ltd, London
27 May 1941 Mr Arthur L Barr RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer
14 August 1941 Captain J M Humphrey RFA appointed Master
30 August 1941 completed and acquired by the Admiralty. Operated as a tanker with limited LSG capability
2 September 1941 sailed Belfast Lough independently on her maiden voyageto the Clyde arriving on 6 September
22 September 1941 sailed the Clyde in convoy ON19 until dispersed and then arriving at Halifax on 10 October 1941
11 October 1941 sailed Halifax independently to Trinidad arriving on the 20 October
26 October 1941 sailed Trinidad independently to Mombassa arriving on the 7 December
8 December 1941 sailed Mombassa in convoy MA3/1 to Aden arriving 15 December
18 December 1941 sailed Aden independently to Suez arriving 23 December
10 January 1942 sailed Port Said to Alexandria arriving the next day
11 January 1942 arrived at Alexandria carrying 15 LCM’s escorted by HMS Kelvin and HMS Kingston
12 January 1942 sailed Alexandria escorted by HMS Farndale, HMS Dulverton, HMS Eridge and HMS Malines. Attacked by German bombers on the 14 and 15 January 1942 - no damage. Arrived at Benghazi on 15th. Sailed from Benghazi to Port Said and was attacked again on 16 January 1942 - unsuccesfully
27 February 1942 sailed Alexandria to Port Said for Suez canal transit
3 March 1943 sailed Suez
15 March 1942 sailed Suez independently to Aden arriving on 20 March
20 March 1942 said Aden independently to Cochin arriving on the 29 March
31 March 1942 sailed Cochin independently to Durban, South Africa arriving on the 17 April
4 April 1942 sailed from Addu Atoll under escort of HMS Express
11 April 1942 arrived at Mauritius still under the escort of HMS Express sailing the same day, still under the same escort to Durban arriving 17 April 1942
25 April 1942 sailed Durban, South Africa in Assault Convoy Y for service during Operation Ironclad - the landings at Diego Suarez, Madagascar- along with RFA EASEDALE arriving on 5 May
5 May 1942 arrived allocated beach head at Diego Suarez - for the invasion and capture of Madagascar.
19 July 1942 sailed Bombay, India independently to Cape Town, South Africa arriving on 16 August
19 August 1942 sailed Cape Town, South Africa independently to Freetown arriving 3 September
3 September 1942 sailed Freetown in Convoy SL121 arriving at the Clyde on 21 September
9 October 1942 Mr W J Brown DSC RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer
22 October 1942 sailed the Clyde in assault convoy KMS1G for service during Operation Torch the Allied Landings in French North Africa to Arzeu Z beach head Oran arriving on 8 November. Other RFA’s involved were RFA‘s ABBEYDALE, BROWN RANGER, DEWDALE (1), DINGLEDALE, ENNERDALE (1), NASPRITE and VISCOL. She was awarded the North Africa 1942 Battle Honour.
16 December 1942 having been left ashore Royal Naval Able Seaman Thomas Cleary C/JX 227086 discharged dead. He is buried in Durban (Stellawood) Cemetery, South Africa in Block F Grave 296
26 December 1942 sailed Gibraltar in convoy MKS4 arriving the Clyde 6 January 1943
12 January 1943 sailed the Clyde independently to Liverpool
13 January 1943 arrived Liverpool for further conversion work into an LSG to be carried out
10 April 1943 sailed Liverpool independently arriving the Clyde the next day conversion completed and sailed Liverpool. Was now equipped with 4 gantry crane extensions which travelled the Main deck on rails and lowered the 15 LCM (1’s) carried over the side in a 30 minute period. These LCM’s were 48.5 feet in length and of 36 tons complete with military transport vehicles and were stowed on rollers in 3 rows on deck with minimum interference to the original tanker function of the vessel. Initially no accommodation was provided for the LCM crews but later conversions saw the forehold and Nos 8 and 9 tanks fitted with tween decks and altered to accommodate 150 additional personnel and extra accommodation was built on the bridge and boat decks aft for the personnel involved in handling the vehicles.
22 June 1943 sailed from the Clyde in assault convoy KMS 18B for service during Operation Husky - the British element of the invasion of Sicily. Other RFA’s involved were RFA’s CEDARDALE, ENNERDALE (1), NASPRITE and PEARLEAF (1)
9 July 1943 transferred to convoy KMF 18 for early unloading
10 July 1943 arrived Barkl West beach head. She was awarded the Sicily 1943 and Salerno 1943 Battle Honours. Sailed Sicily in Convoy MKF 18 and detached to Malta.
11 July 1943 called at Malta sailed the next day
14 July 1943 arrived Tripoli
16 July 1943 sailed Tripoli
21 July 1943 arrived Algiers
31 July 1943 sailed Algiers and joined Convoy KMS 21 which also contained CAPE HOWE
3 September 1943 took part in Operation Avalanche - the invasion of Salerno, Italy damaged by bombing.
9 September 1943 Eight LCM(2)'s from Derwentdale were deployed to convey US troops in the 8th wave from USS Joseph T. Dickman (Captain R. J. Mauerman, USCG) to landings at Salerno, Italy
14 September 1943 departed Salerno under tow of the tug Moreno to Malta thence to the UK (also under tow) Re-engined from the engines from RFA Denbydale.
28 January 1944 Chief Steward Maurius Diniz discharged dead. He is buried in Capuccini Naval Cemetery, Malta
Image courtesy of British War Graves
20 August 1944 arrived Oban in convoy XK 18
21 August 1944 sailed under tow of the tug HESPERIA from Oban
27 August 1944 arrived under tow of the tug HESPERIA at the Tyne
14 February 1945 arriving at Sunderland
26 April 1945 Mr G Bray RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer
13 February 1946 Captain Leslie J Mack DSO RFA appointed as Master
21 February 1946 involved in a collision - no other details available at this time
4 May 1946 on the River Tyne
1946 Gantry gear removed and reconverted into a tanker. With her 2 sisters RFA’s DEWDALE (1) and ENNERDALE (1) they all retained the extra accommodation on the boat decks aft and at the request of the MoT they were kept on the Trinidad / UK run carrying oil for the Navy but with the extra accommodation utilized for carrying 12 passengers at a time until the deficiency of passenger berths was made up by new commercial tonnage
11 May 1946 at Gibraltar.
12 May 1946 sailed to Suez
31 May 1946 arrived at Abadan sailing the next day for Singapore arriving 17 June 1946
20 June 1946 sailed Singapore for Abadan arriving 7 July 1946
10 JUly 1946 sailed Abadan to Singapore
27 July 1946 sailed Singapore to Hong Kong
17 August 1946 at Hong Kong
5 September 1946 sailed Hong Kong for Singapore arriving 13 September 1946
13 September 1946 sailed Singapore to Colombo arriving 20 September 1946
21 September 1946 sailed Colombo to Bombay arriving 25 September 1946
28 September 1946 sailed Bombay to Abadan arriving 5 October 1946
6 October 1946 sailed Abadan to Aden
15 October 1946 sailed Aden. At Port Said 22 October 1946
26 October 1946 berthed at Malta
14 January 1948 berthed at Darwin to discharge
11 March 1948 arrived from Abadan at Kurraba Point, Sydney, Australia to discharge
5 June 1948 Captain Robert D Almond RFA appointed as Master. Remained in command until 18 February 1950 when he took command of RFA Wave Conqueror
28 December 1949 Captain H M Sinclair RFA appointed as Master
17 March 1950 Mr T R Purvis RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer
1 May 1950 berthed at Old Kilpatrick, River Clyde after a voyage from Trinidad
10 November 1950 Captain E C Rogers RFA appointed as Master
23 April 1952 a Lascar seaman crew member taken ashore at Swansea with suspected smallpox. A further case had been landed at Suez. The ship sailed 27 April 1952 for the Clyde to go into refit leaving the sick sailor in the Penrhys Isolation Hospital, Rhondda Valley.
16 June 1952 Captain J M Humphrey OBE DSC RFA appointed as Master
12 December 1952 arrived Malta from Port Said
28 December 1952 Mr D S Wood RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer
17 January 1953 was in collision with Panamanian vessel Rhea off the East Goodwin Light Vessel. Damage was reported as 'slight'
28 August 1954 Captain Raymond V Boodle RFA appointed as Master
29 August 1954 Mr A M Evans RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer
27 December 1954 arrived from Barhein at Garden Island, Sydney, NSW to discharge
14 December 1955 arrived Auckland, New Zealand
26 March 1956 Mr C D Reid RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer
3 June 1957 Captain G W Webster RFA appointed as Master
19 May 1958 Mr A B Tate RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer
27 May 1958 Captain Walter L Holtam RFA appointed as Master
19 May 1959 Laid up at Rosyth
20 October 1959 offered for sale at Rosyth 'as lying' in the Times of this date
December 1959 purchased for £65,000 by Atlantic Traders Ltd (Kenneth O. Irvine, Manager) St John’s, N.B. and was renamed IRVINGDALE 1 the following year
1960 sold to Atlantic Traders Ltd and renamed Irvingdale 1 - registered at Nassau
1962 her owners were restyled as Brookco Ltd, Bahamas - name retained - still registered at Nassau
1966 sold for £75,000 to German breakers who resold her to Spanish breakers
23 July 1966 arrived El Ferrol, Spain in tow of Polish tug SWAROZYC to be broken up.
RFA Derwentdale (2)
Previous name: Halcyon Breeze
Subsequent name: Alnadji
Official Number: 305968
Class: 2nd DALE CLASS Mobile Bulk Tanker
Pennant No: A221
Laid down:
Builder: Hitachi, Innoshima, Japan
Launched: 8 January 1964
Into Service: 23 November 1967
Out of service: 1974
Fate: Broken up
Items of historic interest involving this ship: -
Background Data: On 13 July 1967, the MOD (N) announced that it had taken up from trade three large tankers on bareboat charter to the RFA for an initial period of 7 years. The reasons for the charter of such large and, by naval standards, unconventional vessels was generally accepted as a combination of political failures and by the Admiralty’s continuing need to ensure Fleet logistics support east of Suez. The political failures related to the closure of the Suez Canal following the 1967 Arab / Israeli War and the foreseeable ending of the Aden base with its resultant loss of fuel storage facilities. They were originally classed as Mobile Bulk Tankers, but this was later amended to Mobile Reserve Tankers. Although not sister ships, these three vessels were all basic hull vessels with bridge, accommodation and machinery aft, and all three underwent limited modifications, being fitted with an astern fuelling rig and an abeam reception facility to receive rigs from Fleet Tankers. All three provided support on the Beira Patrol and were replenished On Station by Support Tankers owing to their size which precluded them loading at naval installations
8 January 1964 launched by Hitachi Zosen, Inoshima as Yard Nr 4009 named HALCYON BREEZE for Caribbean Tankers Ltd (Court Line (Ship Management) Ltd, Managers) London
April 1964 Completed at a cost of £2,290,000. The lowest British tender for her construction was £500,000 higher!
23 May 1967 Captain Charles E C Phipps RFA appointed as Master
17 June 1967 chartered by the Admiralty
19 June 1967 became the first DALE to be formally accepted at 1200 hrs at Rotterdam and sailed to rendezvous with RFA ORANGELEAF (2) in the North Sea for a simulated RAS and a transfer of the Deputy Marine Superintendent by jackstay a mere eight hours later
20 June 1967 arrived on the Tyne for modifications by Swan Hunter (Dry Docks) Ltd, Wallsend
23 November 1967 sailed Tyneside on completion of modifications, renamed DERWENTDALE (2) and became the largest ever ship in the RFA
21 July 1968 Mr I M MacFarlane RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer
9 August 1968 her Ship’s Badge was officially presented to her
17 June 1970 off Beira RASed HMS Tartar
June 1974 discharged her final Admiralty cargo and was returned to her owners
16 August 1974 owners went into liquidation and the Official Receiver laid claim to the ship
7 October 1974 Court Line was compulsorily wound up
February 1975 purchased by Arabian Maritime Transport Co Ltd, Jeddah and renamed ALNAJDI
28 April 1982 sailed Singapore for Taiwanese breakers
9 May 1982 prior to this date, arrived at Kaohsiung for breaking up
9 June 1982 demolition begun by Gi Yuen Steel Enterprise Co Ltd.
Notes:
Was one of 17 tankers employed in the Mozchan on Beira Patrol duties
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