RFA Tidepool
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Script error: No such module "Infobox".Template:Infobox ship/subboxTemplate:Infobox ship/subboxTemplate:Infobox ship/subboxTemplate:Infobox ship/subboxRFA Tidepool (A76) was a Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities". of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.
Tidepool had a long and busy life in the fleet. The ship participated in both the Cod Wars and the Beira Patrol during the 1970s. In 1982 when the Falklands War broke out Tidepool was on its way to Chile to be disposed of. The ship was temporarily reclaimed by the United Kingdom and was finally handed over to the Chilean Navy on 13 August 1982 and renamed Almirante Jorge Montt.
Design and construction
Tidepool had a normal complement consisting 110 Royal Fleet Auxiliary personnel with provision for up to 24 Royal Navy personnel. She was designed with abeam replenishment at sea rigs, which had automatic tensioning winches and she had an astern fuelling rig. Tidepool was also fitted with a single spot 50 x 70 ft helicopter deck, designed to be capable of handling the Royal Navy Westland Wessex helicopters used at the time. She had hangar facilities for a single helicopter and could support aviation refuelling. The ship was built to carry 9,500 tons of Furnace Fuel Oil, 5,500 tons of diesel oil and 2,000 tons of avcat and the forward hold could take dry cargo.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
The construction of Tidepool was carried out by the shipbuilder Hawthorn Leslie, at Hebburn. The ship was laid down on 4 December 1961 and launched twelve months later on 11 December 1962.[1] She displaced, fully loaded, 27,400 tons, was just under 584 ft in overall length and was capable of 17 knots.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Operational history
Tidepool was completed and entered service with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary on 11 December 1962,Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". replacing the fleet support tanker Template:RFAux.[2]
Beira Patrol
Along with air stores support ship Template:RFAux and the armament support ship Template:RFAux,[3] Tidepool was deployed on the Beira Patrol in the Mozambique Channel in March 1966, to enforce United Nations sanctions against Rhodesia. The RFA provided support for initially a Royal Navy aircraft carrier and two frigates.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters". On this deployment Tidepool claimed the record for the longest time in the Mozambique Channel at fifty-three days,[4] and was continuously at sea for eighty-one days.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
Task Group 317.5
On 25 January 1977 Tidepool left HMNB Devonport as part of Task Group 317.5, for an Atlantic deployment led by the Royal Navy's converted helicopter cruiser Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities".,[1] in the company of the RFA's small fleet tanker Template:RFAux and the fleet stores ship Template:RFAux. She returned to the United Kingdom in May.[2]
Task Group 317.6
On 5 September 1977, along with RFA's small fleet tanker Template:RFAux, the ammunition, explosives and stores supply ship Template:RFAux and the fleet stores ship Tarbatness, Tidepool departed HMNB Portsmouth involved in Task Group 317.7, again supporting the helicopter cruiser Tiger, the task group's flagship,[1] and accompanied by the Royal Navy's Rothesay-class frigate Script error: No such module "WPSHIPS utilities".. The deployment was for seven and half months, and covered Australia and the Far East. She returned to the United Kingdom on 20 April 1978.[2]
Falklands War
By early 1982 with the 1981 Defence White Paper cuts looming large over the Royal Navy, Tidepool was sold to the Chilean Navy. On its way to Chile, however, the Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands prompted the Chilean government to offer the return of Tidepool for the conflict against its strategic foe. Admiral John Fieldhouse promptly requested the pursuing of this endeavour "with utmost vigour," and on 3 April 1982 Tidepool was authorized by the Chileans to sail back through the Panana Canal to join the British Task Force.Script error: No such module "Footnotes".Script error: No such module "Check for unknown parameters".
References
Citations
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Bibliography
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External links
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- Chilean Navy website Almirante Jorge Montt