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 RFASir Percivale (L3036) | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Namesake | Percivale |
| Laid down | May 1966 |
| Launched | 4 October 1967 |
| Commissioned | 23 March 1968 |
| Decommissioned | 17 August 2004 |
| Identification | IMO number: 6728642 |
| Fate | Scrapped 2009 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Round Table class landing ship logistics |
| Displacement | 5,674 t (5,584long tons) |
| Length | 125.5 m (411 ft 9 in) |
| Beam | 18.2 m (59 ft 9 in) |
| Draught | 3.9 m (12 ft 10 in) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 16knots (18 mph; 30 km/h) |
| Range | 8,000 nmi (15,000 km) at 15knots (17 mph; 28 km/h) |
| Complement | 51 |
| Armament |
|
| Aircraft carried | One spot forWestland Sea King orWestland Lynx aft, one spot forCH-47 Chinook, Sea King or Lynx on main vehicle deck |
RFASir Percivale (L3036) was aRound Table classlanding ship logistics (LSL) vessel belonging to theRoyal Fleet Auxiliary of theUnited Kingdom.
Sir Percivale took part in theFalklands War and the 1991Gulf War.
She originally enteredBritish Army service in 1968, managed for theMinistry of Transport byBritish India Steam Navigation Company, but was taken over by theRoyal Fleet Auxiliary along with the other members of the class in 1970.
In 1972, then again in 1973 & 1974,Sir Percivale supported monitoring operations onFrench atmospheric nuclear tests in the Pacific.[1] A monitoring team was landed onPitcairn Island and a tethered balloon was flown fromSir Percivale for atmospheric sampling.[2] Vulcan and Victor aircraft were also used for high altitude sampling.
The first twelve years of the ship's life were quiet, with some time spent in thePacific, until theFalklands War broke out in April 1982. Along with all the Navy's other amphibious assault shipping,Sir Percivale went south to participate in the recapture of theFalkland Islands. At this time, all the RFA ships were crewed by Hong Kong Chinese civilian sailors.[3] She pioneered the supply runs toTeal Inlet and was the first British ship to re-enterStanley Harbour. Unlike theSir Galahad,Sir Tristram andSir Lancelot, the ship emerged unscathed from the conflict.
The ship served in theGulf War in 1991 and twice deployed to theAdriatic to support British operations in theBalkans.
In 1996Sir Percivale took part in combined exercises with Jordan, followed by Green Wader 96, the first exercise of the then newly formed Amphibious Squadron of the Joint Rapid Deployment Force. In 1997, the ship took part in the large Ocean Wave 97 deployment to the far east and was present for the handover ofHong Kong to the Chinese. Following this ceremony,Sir Percivale escorted the ships of the former Hong Kong Squadron (3Peacock class patrol vessel) to their new owners in thePhilippines. During other parts of Ocean Wave, the ship took Royal Marines toBrunei,Singapore andThailand for various exercises. 1998 saw further exercises asSir Percivale took part in practice amphibious assaults in Norway, France and Spain.
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In 2000,Sir Percivale was deployed toSierra Leone to support British forces training the army of that country. In September 2000, the ship was alongside inFreetown when British forces who had been taken hostage were rescued in a raid by theParachute Regiment and theSAS ("Operation Barras"). Since then the ship has been deployed during operations connected with Afghanistan in 2001 andIraq in 2003.
The ship was to have aSLEP overhaul, but an equivalent overhaul ofSir Bedivere proved so costly that plans were abandoned and new ships were procured instead.
Sir Percivale was decommissioned on 17 August 2004 and was laid up alongside at Marchwood Military Port, Southampton.
The ship was sold to Leavesley International and scrapping commenced in Canada Dock, Liverpool on 16 December 2009.[4]
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