Previous name:
Subsequent name:

Official Number:                     168210

Class:                                      RANGER CLASS Fleet Attendant Oiler

Pennant No:

Laid down:                              24 June 1940
Builder:                                    Caledon Shipbuilding & Engineering Company, Dundee
Launched:                               27 May 1941

Into Service:                            25 September 1941
Out of service:                         22 September 1942
Fate:                                         Sunk

Items of historic interest involving this ship: -

Background Data:   The 6 ships in this Class were designed in the mid -1930’s by Rowland Baker as replacements for the 2000t BELGOL CLASS and were the first Admiralty-designed tankers since the  1917 5000t FAST LEAF CLASS. As originally built, for camouflage purposes, they had canvas deckhouses, a dummy plate funnel forward, their foremast was on the starboard bow, the wheelhouse was offset to port, and in some cases their genuine funnel was cut low and was on the port quarter, fitted with a spark arrester. Originally armed with 1 x 4” LA, 1 x 12 pdr HA/LA and several Lewis guns, as the War progressed the armament fits altered and finally averaged 1 x 4” HA, 1 x 40mm Bofors and 4 x single 20mm Oerlikons. These vessels served extensively as Escort Tankers on the Russian Convoys, Norwegian coastal raids, Malta Convoys and with the British Pacific Fleet. Apart from GRAY RANGER, which became a War Loss, the Class had exceptionally long Service lives and were finally replaced by the ROVER CLASS

28 August 1939 Ordered

24 June 1940 laid down

27 May 1941launched by Caledon Shipbuilding Co Ltd, Dundee as Yard Nr 390 named GRAY RANGER

11 July 1941 Mr D L S Hood RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

1 September 1941 Captain Howard D Gausden RFA appointed as Master. The ship was fitted with special arrangements for OAS using captured German buoyant rubber hose and the new British self-rendering winch. The German equipment had been transferred from EMPIRE GARDEN the former German oiler GEDANIA which had been captured by the Ocean Boarding Vessel HMS MARSDALE on  04/06/41 near Iceland. GEDANIA had been converted by the Kriegsmarine at St  Nazaire to carry fuel and supplies to German commerce raiders in the Atlantic and to bring back prisoners taken from sunken ships

25 September 1941 completed. Joined the Fleet Fuelling Service

30 September 1941sailed Dundee to Leith arriving the same day

1 October 1941 German OAS gear from the captured German fleet supply ship GEDANIA was transferred to her at Leith, together with a report of the rubber hose trials conducted in the Clyde area on 04 September

4 October 1941 sailed Leith to Scapa Flow arriving on 12 October 1941

28 October 1941 conducted OAS trials with RFA  EMPIRE SALVAGE

21 December 1941 sailed Scapa Flow in company with the Belgian landing ship PRINS ALBERT to support Operation Anklet - the second Commando raid on  the Lofoten Islands

22 December 1941 arrived Sullom Voe

23 December 1941 sailed Lerwick for Operation Anklet in company with the Belgian landing ship  PRINS  ALBERT escorted by HM destroyers ESKIMO and LAMERTON

31 December 1941 conducted OAS trials with the destroyer HMS BEDOUIN using the captured  German hose and reported satisfactory results

1 January 1942 arrived Scapa Flow on completion of Operation Anklet

7 February 1942 sailed Scapa Flow for Sullom Voe escorted by the escort destroyer HMS CHIDDINGFORD

10 April 1942 sailed Oban in convoy PQ15 initially to Reykjavik 

13 April 1942 was damaged whilst going alongside the carrier HMS ILLUSTRIOUS

26 April 1942 sailed Reykjavik in Convoy PQ 15 consisting of 25 merchantmen as Force Q along  with the escort destroyer HMS LEDBURY to Murmansk

1 May 1942 detached from Convoy PQ 15 to join the homeward bound Convoy QP11

6 May 1952 detached to Lerwick with the escort destroyer HMS LEDBURY to replenish  the diesel fuel stocks there

8 May 1942 arrived Lerwick

23 June 1942 sailed Scapa Flow

27 June 1942 sailed Reykjavik to Murmansk in convoy PQ17 consisting of 36 merchantmen along with  RFA ALDERSDALE

31 June 1942 struck submerged ice floes which buckled her bows and she was ordered to return to port, being replaced by RFA ALDERSDALE (which was later sunk, one of the 24 ships lost in total)

2 July 1942 joined Convoy QP13 consisting of 35 merchantmen as Force Q along with the destroyer HMS DOUGLAS

9 July 1942 arrived Scapa Flow

14 July 1942 at Scapa Flow alongside HMS KING GEORGE V refuelling her

17 July 1942 at Scapa Flow alongside HMS KING GEORGE V refuelling her

21 July 1942 sailed Loch Ewe to Methil in convoy WN312 arriving 23 July 1942

23 July 1942 sailed Methil to the River Tyne arriving the next day

17 August 1942 sailed the River Tyne to Methil in convoy FN787arriving the next day

19 August 1942 sailed Methil to Loch Ewe in convoy EN126 arriving 21 August 1942

25 August 1942 arrived Newcastle for repairs having struck an iceberg while part of Convoy PQ17.

2 September 1942 sailed Loch Ewe to Archangel in convoy PQ18 as escort oiler with RFA Black Ranger and RFA Oligarth

13 September 1942 sailed Archangel as escort oiler in convoy QP14 together with RFA Black Ranger and RFA Oligarth

22 September 1942 torpedoed and sunk at approximately 70N 11W by the German submarine U435 while part of Convoy QP14. Six of the crew were killed - their details are in the Roll of Honour for 1942 - they are also all remembered with pride on the Tower Hill Memorial. 2nd Radio Officer Frank E Burtenshaw RFA is also remembered with pride on the Abergwili War Memorial, Carmarthen. Engineer Officer Ronald McLeod RFA is also remembered with pride on a memorial in Dundee (Balgay) Cemetery.

The Tower Hill Memorial 

Abergwili War Memorial, Carmarthen remembering 2nd Radio Officer Burtenshaw

(with an incorrect month of his death)

Thirty three survivors from Gray Ranger were rescued by the Convoy Rescue Ship Rathlin. Rathin's success of rescuing sailors from sunken ships during this convoy resulted in 210 survivors being taken on board. The rescue ships crew of 71 (plus one dog) resulted in food shortages. Permission was given for Rathlin and another convoy rescue ship Zamalek to leave the convoy and sail under escort to Iceland. They arrived at Seidisfjord late on the 23 September 1942

26 September 1942 the survivors were finally landed at Gourock

Notes:

She was sunk within minutes of the American freighter BELLINGHAM and  the British OCEAN  VOICE which was carrying the Commodore.