Previous name:                     British Beacon     
Subsequent name:

Official Number:                    142670

Class:                                     10000t OL CLASS Tanker

Pennant No:                           Y7.304 /  X18

Laid down:
Builder:                                   Workman Clark & Co Ltd, Belfast
Launched:                              9 September 1918
Into Service:                           9 October 1918
Out of service:                        April 1953
Fate:                                         Broken up

Items of historic interest involving this ship: -

Background Data:   Of the 6 ships in this Class, two of them were built by HM Dockyards to keep the Dockyards busy after the end of WW1 in accordance with the Colwyn Committee‘s recommendations.. two other similar ships were built for Anglo Saxon Petroleum Co Ltd, London at the same time - MUREX at Portsmouth and NASSA at Devonport - and after producing these 2 well-built ships, the finances and materials appeared to be short and the 2 built for the RFA were supposedly built with odds and ends and auxiliaries taken from outmoded warships. With their cheap and second-hand fittings they had some heavy maintenance bills, which they paid for by spending most of their lives on charter. MUREX and NASSA were both broken up at Osaka in 1936

9 September 1918 launched by Workman Clark & Co Ltd, Belfast as Yard Nr 425 named  BRITISH  BEACON for the Shipping Controller

9 October 1918 completed and placed under management of British Tanker Co, London. Cost  £246,108

1919 transferred to Admiralty ownership but remained under commercial management

10 March 1919 as RFA British Beacon berthed at Hull after arriving from Philadelphia

16 August 1920 as RFA British Beacon berthed at Portsmouth after arriving from Tampico

2 May 1921 as RFA British Beacon arrived at the Clyde from Port Arthur

22 June 1921 as RFA British Beacon arrived at Sheerness from Abadan via Gibraltar

7 November 1921 damaged the battle cruiser HMS RENOWN at Suez

8 November 1923 to 22 December 1923 berthed on the Oil Wharf, Singapore

27 February 1924 sailed Abadan for Sydney, NSW

5 March 1924 sailed Colombo

27 March 1924 berthed Sydney, NSW moored to the Admiralty buoys off Garden Island

9 April 1924 while still moored to the Admiralty buoys (above) HMS Dunedin and HMS Dragon berthed alongside her to be refuelled

12 April 1924 0800 at Sydney, NSW berthed alongside HMS Hood. Supplied 2,894 tons of FFO to the Battle Cruiser. Cast off at 1930hrs to No: 18 buoy

25 April 1924 sailed Sydney, NSW to Balik Papan,  Borneo to load and then to Vancouver, Canada

January 1931 to April 1931 laid up at Devonport

July 1931 to June 1932 laid up at Portsmouth

12 January 1937 transferred to Admiralty management and manning as an RFA and renamed  OLCADES at Rosyth

November 1937 partly fitted for defensive armament by Mackinnon, Mackenzie & Co at Bombay

11 April 1938 to 18 April 1938 towed the gate vessel HMS SANDGATE from Singapore to Trincomalee

7 July 1938 berthed at Singapore

28 October 1938 Mr G A Calvert RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

November 1938 defensive armament completed and gun trials carried out

7 November 1938 Captain R H P Meyhew RFA appointed as Master

10 July 1939 Mr C J Falconer RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

3 September 1939 at Portsmouth on the outbreak of WW2

29 December 1939 slightly damaged while fuelling the carrier HMS EAGLE at Mahe in the Seychelles

30 December 1939 sustained damage when fuelling the armed merchant cruiser HMS CATHAY in the    Seychelles. Repairs were carried out at Colombo the following  month

24 May 1940 grounded on an uncharted rock in Trincomalee Harbour - slight damage

24 February 1941 damaged when going alongside the cruiser HMS GLASGOW

8 March 1941 refuelled HMNZS Leander and HMAS Canberra at Mauritius

4 January 1942 arrived at Mauritius from the Cape under escort of Armed Merchant Cruiser HMS Hector to serve as the station oiler

31 January 1942 at Mauritius

31 March 1942 at Mauritius

11 May 1942 Captain W W Peddle RFA appointed as Master

22 December 1942 damaged by the South African Railways Administration tug T.H. WATERMEYER at Cape Town

28 January 1943 Mr Eric S Fielder RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

1942 to 1943 crankshaft trouble reduced her to a fuelling hulk at Bombay. Her Chief Engineer, ship’s engineers and two fitters from Mazagan repaired the defect, involving handling  weights of 20 tons under tropical conditions and she re-entered full service on completion

27 April 1943 after a refit was allocated as the Base Oiler at Bombay

18 February 1944 Mr Thomas H Purvis RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

13 July 1944 damaged whilst alongside and fuelling the carrier HMS VICTORIOUS

1946 replaced RFA RUTHENIA as jetty and pumping station at Woodlands Naval Tank Storage facility at Singapore until the fuel lines ashore were restored and a new jetty  was built in 1952

1952 after a serious fire at Singapore, was sold to BISCO for demolition

29 October 1952 sailed Singapore in tow of the British tug ENGLISHMAN. While crossing the Bay of Biscay, she broke adrift and again caught fire. After the fire had been extinguished, the tow was reconnected

31 January 1953 Again broke adrift during a gale and..

1 February 1953 ran aground at Barton Gap in Norfolk

15 April 1953 was refloated and continued in tow to Blyth

19 April 1953 arrived at Blyth for breaking up by Hughes Bolckow Shipbreaking Co Ltd.