RFA Olna (A123)
RFA Olna underway in 1991
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History | |
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United Kingdom | |
Name | RFA Olna |
Ordered | 4 February 1963 as AO 16 |
Builder | Hawthorn Leslie and Company |
Yard number | 756 |
Laid down | 2 July 1964 |
Launched | 28 July 1965 by Barbara Redman |
In service | 1 April 1966 |
Out of service | 24 September 2000 |
Identification |
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Honours and awards |
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Fate |
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Notes | [1][2] |
Badge | |
General characteristics | |
Class and type | Ol-class tanker |
Displacement | 36,027 long tons (36,605 t) full load |
Length | 648 ft (198 m) |
Beam | 84 ft 2 in (25.65 m) |
Draught | 34 ft (10 m) |
Propulsion |
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Speed | 21 knots (24 mph; 39 km/h) |
Range | 10,000 nmi (19,000 km) at 16 kn (18 mph; 30 km/h) |
Complement |
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Armament |
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Aircraft carried | 3× Westland Wessex or Westland Sea King helicopters |
Service record | |
Operations: |
RFA Olna (A123) was the third and final of the three Ol-class "fast fleet tanker" of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA), the naval auxiliary fleet of the United Kingdom. She was designed by the builders to meet specific requirements and be capable of maintaining “fleet speed” (defined as sustained steaming at 20 knots). When she entered service she was one of the largest and fastest ships in the RFA Fleet. Olna saw service in the Falklands War.
Background
[edit]Her design was a development of the Tide-class ships of the late 1950s. She was commissioned in 1966 and served in the RFA for 34 years. Olna was the third ship of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary to bear the name.
Operational history
[edit]Olna entered service as the UK was pulling back from its final large imperial garrisons. Much of the ship's early life was spent supporting routine deployments around the world.
1967-1968
[edit]In Operation Magister, Olna was part of the fleet covering the final British military withdrawal from Aden, along with nine other RFAs.[3]
Falklands War
[edit]In 1982 Olna left for the South Atlantic as part of the second wave of ships to leave the UK during the Falklands War. That group was centred on the destroyer HMS Bristol. Once Olna reached theatre, her time was primarily spent fuelling the carrier battle group.[3]
1983-2000
[edit]In 1990, another wartime deployment beckoned. As forces built up in the Persian Gulf, Olna joined the British task force on station. Olna arrived in August 1990, shortly after Iraq invaded Kuwait, and apart from a short maintenance period in Singapore was on station for the whole duration of the conflict. Olna operated further north than any other tanker as the US Navy was wary of mines after two ships had been severely damaged.
At the end of the 1990s, retirement was in sight. 1999 and 2000 were spent in mothballs at Gibraltar until the outbreak of a crisis in Sierra Leone called for Olna to make one last deployment. The ship did not proceed to Sierra Leone, but instead relieved other RFA vessels of participation in a major exercise off Scotland. Following this exercise, the ship returned to reserve and decommissioned soon thereafter.
Decommissioning
[edit]In February 2001 Olna was sold to Eckhardt Organisation, for scrap and on 9 March she was towed out from Portsmouth. However, in May it was revealed she had been banned from Turkish yards owing to the high quantity of asbestos aboard and was diverted to Greece. She was renamed Kos and sailed via the Suez Canal, arriving at Alang Ship Breaking Yard, India, on 20 June 2001.[1]
Battle honours
[edit]On 11 January 1985, RFA Olna was awarded her Falkland Islands 1982 Battle Honour, by Rear Admiral John C. Worsop, CB, RN, – Flag Officer, Portsmouth.[4]
References
[edit]- ^ a b "RFA Olna - Historical RFA". historicalrfa.uk. 26 October 2008. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
- ^ "RFA Olna A123". helis.com. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
- ^ a b "RFA Olna(3)". Historical RFA. Retrieved 2 August 2017.
- ^ "Operation Corporate Battle Honour Awards - Historical RFA". historicalrfa.uk. 3 October 2011. Retrieved 6 August 2024.
- O Class Fleet Replenishment Tankers Archived 27 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine