Previous name:
Subsequent name:               Lady Saniya
Official Number:                     180988                               

Class:                                      KIN CLASS Coastal Salvage Vessel

Pennant No:                           A281

Laid down:                             20 April 1944
Builder:                                   A Hall, Aberdeen
Launched:                              17 January 1945
Into Service:                           1950

Out of service:                        1960

Fate:                                        01 April 1992 Sold Commercially

Items of historic interest involving this ship: -

Background Data:  Originally a class of 11 ships was planned but two were cancelled and of the remaining nine, seven saw brief service as RFA’s. They were re-rated as Mooring, Salvage and Boom Vessels in 1971. All were equipped with lifting horns and heavy rollers forward which enabled them to lift 200 tons dead-weight over the bows. In wartime they were armed with 2 x 20 mm AA guns and had a complement of 34

17 January 1945 launched by Alexander Hall & Co Ltd, Aberdeen as Yard Nr 701 named  HMS KINBRACE. Named after a small community in Strath Beg in east Sutherland in Scotland

30 April 1945 completed

January 1946 based at Immingham on east coast clearance work in cludingthe American Liberty ship Horace Binney which had been mined on 8 May 1945 thirty six miles from Flushing and beached off Deal where it broke in two.

July 1946 based at Harwich

6 May 1948 Mr J Marshall appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

December 1948 at Sheerness flying the RFA Blue Ensign

7 March 1949 Captain Roy Souter appointed as Master

June 1949 with RFA Kinloss was involved in the salvage of Brabo also with LC10 and LC11

December 1949 at Chatham

14 July 1950 raised the first portion of RFA WAR SEPOY, which had been sunk as a blockship during WW2 and was now lying badly corroded in 2 parts, during clearance operations on the Western Entrance to Dover Harbour

17 August 1950 another section of RFA WAR SEPOY was raised at Dover

11 May 1951 Mr H C Shepherd (Lieutenant (E) RN (ret)) appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

November 1951 / April 1952 raised the aft section HMS Foyebank (a naval flak ship) which had been bombed and sunk by  German aircraft in 1940 in Portland Harbour from a depth of 90 feet.The fore part had already been raised in 1949

1 June 1952 Captain W H Harrison appointed as Master

17 June 1952 along with her sister UPLIFTER and another tug, succeeded in refloating the British steamer BARON DOUGLAS which had been beached by tugs near Hastings after she had been hit in thick fog by the Yugoslav vessel KORENICA ten miles east of the Royal Sovereign Light Vessel. Her Master and Crew received £2,500 salvage money

10 April 1953 Captain H J Perrett RD (Commander RNR (Ret)) appointed Master

April 1954 while engaged on the removal of a block ship at Dover Harbour was placed on standby to assist in the recovery of a Sea Hawk jet fighter which had crashed in the sea off Mablethorpe at the mouth of the River Humber

17 June 1955 involved with RFA Swin in the raising of HMS/m Sidon at Portland Harbour when twelve members of the crew and a Naval Doctor from HMS Maidstone were killed.

24 June 1955 submarine was raised and beached near Chesil Beach Causeway for bodies to be removed

5 July 1955 entered Portland Harbour

1 September 1955 refloated the Panamanian-registered CAPTAIN LUKIS which was lying beached in Sandwich Bay and it was then lightened by RFA ROBERT MIDDELTON

13 April 1956 Mr A Butler appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

27 October 1956 deployed after Operation Musketeer - the Suez Crisis - along with 34 other RFA‘s

2 November 1956 Captain H M Campbell appointed as Master

5 December 1956 involved with other ships in opening up obstructions in the Suez Canal under the directions of the United Nations

31 January 1957 arrived Malta along with her sister KINGARTH after Suez Operation

15 February 1957 returned U.K. from Suez

7 December 1957 Captain D M Gentle appointed as Master

12 February 1959 Captain J W Boyes appointed as Master

22 February 1959 Mr A E Daw appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

1960 in reserve at Chatham

6 May 1963 Admiralty Board approval was given to convert her and her sisters KINGARTH and  UPLIFTER into Mooring, Salvage and Boom Vessels

22 May 1967 arrived Greenock for conversion to diesel propulsion by James Lamont & Co Ltd.

29 May 1967 conversion began. She was re-engined with 1 x British Polar Atlas diesel engine. 630  bhp. 9 knots. Single screw

14 September 1967 British registry closed

12 May 1968 conversion completed  at a cost of £184,000 and she was transferred to PAS at  Portland where she replaced the BDV BARNDALE

May 1973 assisted in the salvage of the midget submarine XE 5 that had been sunk under tow off Portland in 1945. The submarine was then put on display at the Imperial War Museum at Duxford

21 May 1987 was transferred to the Reserve Ships Unit at Portsmouth

9 December 1988 towed by NIMBLE to Rosyth to replace KINLOSS to serve with the Naval Construction Research Establishment as the ARE Trials Vessel

15 December 1989 - laid up at Rosyth

1990 on the Disposal List Rosyth

May 1991 replaced by CAMERON

1 April 1992 sold to SC Chambers, Liverpool

11 May 1992 sailed Rosyth in tow and was laid up at Port Penrhyn in North Wales

1994 purchased by the Australian firm Morris Catering who had a contract to supply services to 32,000 UN troops in Somalia

October 1994 at Malta to Somalia, UN support

1998 was seen laid up at Ajman Creek near Dubai

2001 purchased by unknown Middle Eastern buyers

20 September 2004 now renamed LADY SANIYA arrived Alang, India to be broken up

Notes: