 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | RFAAbbeydale |
| Ordered | 1936 |
| Builder | Swan Hunter and Wigham Richardson Ltd,Wallsend |
| Launched | 28 December 1936 |
| Commissioned | 4 March 1937 |
| Decommissioned | 18 September 1959 |
| Honours & awards | North Africa 1942 |
| Fate | Arrived at ship breakers for scrapping on 4 September 1960 |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement | 17,210 tons full load |
| Length | 481 ft 6 in (146.76 m) |
| Beam | 61 ft 8 in (18.80 m) |
| Draught | 27 ft 6 in (8.38 m) |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 11.5 knots (21.3 km/h) |
| Complement | 44 |
RFAAbbeydale (A109) was a fleettanker of theRoyal Fleet Auxiliary and was originally one of six ships ordered by the British Tanker Co which were purchased on the stocks by theAdmiralty. She was built bySwan Hunter and Wigham Richardson Ltd and launched on 28 December 1936.Abbeydale served until being decommissioned on 18 September 1959 and laid up atHMNB Devonport. She was then sold for scrapping, arriving at theThos. W. Ward breakers' yards atBarrow-in-Furness on 4 September 1960.
Ordered by theBritish Tanker Company in 1936,Abbeydale was built bySwan Hunter and Wigham Richardson Ltd,Wallsend and launched on 28 December 1936. She was taken over by theAdmiralty on 4 March 1937 after completing hersea trials, and on 5 March 1937 sailed from theRiver Tyne bound forTrinidad on her maiden voyage.[1] She made several voyages betweenAbadan on thePersian Gulf, and on the outbreak of theSecond World War she was returning to the UK from Australia and New Zealand. She sailed to Trinidad in October 1939 and in December was atKingston, Jamaica. On 29 December 1939 the German newspaperBremer Zeituag falsely reportedAbbeydale as one of a number of ships that had been sunk.[1] Early 1940 was spent in the Caribbean and Pacific, calling atCallao,Colón, Kingston and Bermuda. On 30 March 1940 she caught fire at Bermuda while moored alongsideRFAOrangeleaf. Both ships were damaged.[1]
Abbeydale returned to the UK in May 1940. She was refitted on theRiver Clyde in November and December 1940, returning to the Caribbean in early 1941.[1] From there she operated in the South Atlantic, calling atRio de Janeiro,Montevideo andPort Stanley,Falkland Islands. She underwent repairs at Trinidad in September 1941 and atNew Orleans from December 1941 to January 1942.Abbeydale arrived atFreetown in February 1942, and sailed from there toSaint Helena. She operated from Saint Helena and into the Atlantic over the next few months, refuelling Royal Navy warships. In October she was refitted atGibraltar as adefensively equipped merchant ship and in November was assigned to supportOperation Torch, the allied invasion of North Africa.[1] For her service she was awarded thebattle honour "North Africa 1942". She sustained some damage that month after colliding with a sunken wreck offOran, damage that had been repaired by December. In January 1943Abbeydale returned to the UK to undergo more thorough repairs and refitting, and in March sailed for New York with a convoy, before returning to the Mediterranean with a convoy the following month.[1]
In May 1943 she was assigned to Operation Husky, theallied invasion of Sicily. On 18 June 1943Abbeydale sailed from Gibraltar bound forAlexandria in Convoy XTG 2. On 27 June 1943 she was torpedoed byU-73 off the Algerian coast.[2] There were no fatalities, butAbbeydale was severely damaged, breaking in two.HMSSalvestor towed the damaged vessel toAlgiers, with both parts later towed toTaranto dockyard, the aft section arriving on 14 October 1944 and the fore section on 18 October 1944.[1] Work to reunite the halves did not begin until 30 May 1945, and the repairedAbbeydale did not return to service until June 1946.[1]
Postwar,Abbeydale spent most of her time sailing between the UK, the Persian Gulf, Indian Ocean and the Pacific, with occasional visits to the Caribbean. On 19 June 1954, while sailing fromFinnart to the Persian Gulf, she was involved in a collision with the British steamerCharles Dickens atAden. TheCharles Dickens struck the mooredAbbeydale while attempting to berth, with both vessels sustaining some damage.[1] On 18 September 1959Abbeydale was laid up atDevonport, and was put up for sale on 5 July 1960. She was sold on 11 August 1960 toBritish Iron & Steel Corporation for scrapping, and on 4 September 1960 arrived under tow from the tugCampaigner atThos. W. Ward breakers' yards atBarrow-in-Furness. Her scrapping began on 14 September 1960.[1]
Shipwrecks and maritime incidents in June 1943 | |
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| Shipwrecks |
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| Other incidents |
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