RFA Wave Baron

RFA Wave Baron

 

 

Previous name:                    Empire Flodden
Subsequent name:

Official Number:                   180885

Class:                                    WAVE CLASS  Replenishment Oiler (modified)

Pennant No:                          X137 / A242

Laid down:                           1 September 1944
Builder:                                  Furness Shipbuilding Company, Haverton Hill 
Launched:                            19 February 1946
Into Service:                          1 April 1946
Out of service:                       December 1969- laid up
Fate:                                       1972 Sold for breaking up

 

Items of historic interest involving this ship: -

Background Data:  A need for fast tankers to bring oil into the country had been envisaged early in the Second World War, but by the time the material had been collected and the Yards had space to build them, the need had largely passed and the original design of diesel-engined ships was abandoned. Instead, the standard 12000t Class being built were given sharper bows and sterns and turbine engines with water tube boilers. In all, 21 of this type were built and were offered to the Admiralty, who wanted faster tankers for the Pacific Fleet Train. The Admiralty took 20 of them ( the final vessel being completed commercially for Oil and Molasses Tankers Ltd, London as BEECHWOOD) and renamed them with the WAVE nomenclature. Performance varied considerably from ship to ship and they underwent various modifications in their rigs for RAS work. The 8 best ones were finally given an extensive refit, with extra accommodation added to the Bridge Deck and extra turbo cargo pumps and derricks to make them more satisfactory for Fleet work. Initially expensive to run, they recouped some of their expensive repair bills by earning revenues from charter work after the Korean War. From this Class was evolved the TIDE CLASS oilers.

 

1 September 1944 laid down

19 February 1946  launched by Furness Shipbuilding Co Ltd, Haverton Hill as Yard Nr 378 named EMPIRE FLODDEN for the MoWT

April 1946 completed as WAVE BARON and was placed under the initial management of Gow, Harrison & Co Ltd, Glasgow

22 March 1948 Mr W E Burke RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

1 April 1948 transferred to Admiralty management

30 March 1948 Captain  Sidney T Dunster OBE RFA appointed as Master

 

Captain Sidney T Dunster RFA

 

11 December 1949 Captain F A Shaw RFA appointed as Master

25 January 1950 Mr D F Gorrie RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

16 July 1950 while at sea off Peel, Isle of Man 2nd Engineer Frank Hodgson RFA was severely scalded on the face, chest and abdomen, arms and legs - he was clearing a tube in the engine room when the accident happended. The ship put into Peel Bay and the Peel life-boat was launched with a doctor on board. After treatment the Officer was placed in a ship's life-boat, which was towed to the quayside by the lief-boat. He was admitted to Noble's Hospital, Douglas and detained.  

June 1951 - 27 July 1953  saw service during the Korean War along with 18 other RFA’s. 

20 September 1950 Captain F L Finch RFA appointed as Master

5 January 1951 Mail from the Cocos-Keeling Islands could not be picked up by the RMS Orion as usual and so was collected by the Wave Baron and posted in Colombo, Ceylon endorsed with  the cache 'per Wave Baron'. Such envelopes are collectors items.

The above cover was sold in Australia in 2006 for $1,900 (Aus)

13 May 1951 Captain Edmund H Butterworth RFA appointed as Master

 

Captain Edmund H Butterworth RFA

7 August 1951 Mr G F Mathews RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

13 November 1951 berthed at Malta with a cargo of FFO for the tank farm from Curacao

14 November 1951 instead of discharging her FFO put to sea and RAS'ed HMS Illustrious 100 miles North West of Malta. The RAS took 8 hours  and the Wave Baron returned to Dolphin Wharf, Malta

1952 Awarded Battle Honour - Korea 1952

1 April 1953 Captain Herbert  A Shacklock RFA appointed as Master

10 December 1953 RAS'ed with HMNZS Black Prince in the Pacific

23 December 1953 arrived Chowder Bay, Mosman, NSW Australia to load

26 April 1954 Mr J Wilson RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

27 July 1954 was in refit at the Greenock Dockyard Company Port Glasgow

31 August 1954 Fireman James Black discharged dead. The ship was alongside at Point a Pierre, Trinidad.  He was buried in an unmarked grave in Paradise Cemetery, San Fernando, Trinidad

 

Paradise Cemetery, San Fernando - image taken by  Jerome Lee, RFHAS member

 

16 September 1954 Captain J Dines RD RFA (Commander RNR) appointed as Master

25 April 1956 Mr F Barclay RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

1957 - 1960 supported Operation Grapple - the British H-bomb tests at Christmas Island in the Pacific Ocean  - along with 16 other RFA’s

 

 

16 October 1957 Captain G B A Livesay RFA appointed as Master

13 September 1958 deployed in support of RN units off Iceland during 1st Cod War until 29 September 1958

10 October 1958 Mr P K Coles RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

20 November 1958 deployed in support of RN units off Iceland during 1st Cod War until 27 November 1958

20 January 1959 deployed in support of RN units off Iceland during 1st Cod War until 6 February 1959

9 March 1959 deployed in support of RN units off Iceland during 1st Cod War until the end of the month.

25 April 1959 deployed in support of RN units off Iceland during 1st Cod War until the middle of May 1959

24 June 1959 deployed in support of RN units off Iceland during 1st Cod War until 11 July 1959

1 November 1959 deployed in support of RN units off Iceland during 1st Cod War until 25 November 1959

22 December 1959 deployed in support of RN units off Iceland during 1st Cod War until 6 January 1960

18 January 1960 Captain Ronald V Warren DSC RFA appointed as Master

9 February 1960 deployed in support of RN units off Iceland during 1st Cod War until 22 February 1960

7 May 1960 Mr V J Cooney RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

7 July 1960 arrived at Grand Harbour, Malta from Gibraltar

16 July 1960 sailed Malta to sea for exercises

20 July 1960 sailed Malta to Messina

27 July 1960 arrived at Grand Harbour, Malta

29 July 1960 sailed Malta for Gibraltar

8 December 1960 Captain Basil V Dobbie RFA appointed as Master

10 January 1961 deployed in support of RN units off Iceland during 1st Cod War until 22 January 1961

24 January 1961 at Invergordon

17 April 1961 sailed Malta for exercises with RN and other Nato Allies together with RFA Tide Austral, RFA Brown Ranger, RFA Sea Salvor and RFA Fort Duquesne

28 May 1962 sailed Malta with RFA Fort Duquesne and RFA Fort Rosalie together with HMS Blake and other RN units to visit Barcelona

1 June 1962 to 6 June 1962 berthed at Barcelona

9 June 1962 to 13 June 1962 berthed at Palma, Majorca

14 June 1962 at Gibraltar where CID Officers from New Scotland Yard boarded to take passage to HMS Belfast which was in the Atlantic returning home from Trinidad to investigate allegations of drug smuggling on the cruiser. Some $3,000,000 worth of heroin and opium had been discovered onboard after the ship had sailed from Honolulu in May 1962.

16 October 1962 Captain David P Kindersley RFA appointed as Master

24 January 1963 Captain Alistair C Gibson RFA appointed as Master

1 February 1963 Mr J B Jackson RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

30 October 1963 sailed Malta for exercises

12 November 1963 sailed Malta for the UK

20 January 1964 Commodore (E) J A MacPherson RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

24 June 1964 sailed Malta for Argostoli

31 December 1964 Captain E D J Evans RFA appointed as Master

20 January 1965 Captain Charles E C Phipps RFA appointed as Master

19 May 1965 sailed Malta for Abadan

20 October 1965 Mr L Cochrane RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

1 February 1966 sailed Malta for the UK

12 April 1966 Mr K O'Neill RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

5 October 1966 Captain Archibald Murchie RFA appointed as Master

15 December 1966 Mr D G P Wells RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

28 January 1967 Captain David P Kindersley RFA appointed as Master

27 to 31 January 1968 supported HM ships in abortive search for the missing Israeli submarine Dakar

25 March 1968 Captain R J Lockwood RFA appointed as Master

19 April 1968 Mr V J Cooney RFA appointed as Chief Engineer Officer

28 October 1969 arrived at Devonport for the last time

December 1969 destored and laid up Devonport

5 February 1972 placed on disposal list and offered for sale 'as lying' at Devonport Dockyard in the Times of this day

March 1972 purchased for £ 6,500 by N.V. Intershitra, a Dutch Trading House then again resold.

23 April 1972 arrived at Bilbao in tow for breaking up by Revalorizacion de Materials SA

 

 

Notes:

 

The Israeli submarine DAKAR was originally HMS TOTEM and was one of 3 “T” Class acquired by  Israel. The others were HMS TRUNCHEON which was handed over to the Israeli Navy at Gosport on 9 January 1968 renamed DOLPHIN and HMS TURPIN renamed LEVIATHAN in 1965..They underwent a major refit and DAKAR commissioned into the Israeli Navy on 10 November 1967. She was on her way from the U.K. to Haifa when she was lost on 26 January 1968.. Although a full-scale “Subsmash” routine was carried out, no trace of the DAKAR or her crew of 69 was found, until February 1969 when a distress buoy from the lost submarine was found by an  Arab on the beach about 4 miles north of Khan Yunis in the Gaza Strip. The wreck of the submarine was found on 28 May 1999 at a depth of 2,950 metres. The conning tower was salvaged in October 2000 and underwent a process of preservation before being placed near the harbour that was her last intended destination. The conning tower was dedicated at the Israel Naval Museum in Haifa on 31 May 2003