The Ol-class tankers were a series of three "fast fleet tankers" used by the

Royal Fleet Auxiliary The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) is a naval auxiliary fleet owned by the UK's Ministry of Defence. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service and provides logistical and operational support to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. The RF ...

(RFA), the naval

auxiliary fleet An auxiliary ship is a naval ship designed to support combatant ships and other naval operations. Auxiliary ships are not primary combatant vessels, though they may have some limited combat capacity, usually for purposes of self-defense. Auxil ...

of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, tasked with providing fuel, food, fresh water, ammunition and other supplies to

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

vessels around the world.

Class history

In 1962, plans included support ships capable of maintaining “fleet speed” (defined as sustained steaming at ) and early mentions proposed six ships. On 4 February 1963, an order had been placed for three ships, to be known as the ''Olynthus'' class. They were designed by the

builders Builder may refer to: Construction * Construction worker, who specializes in building work * Carpenter, a skilled craftsman who works with wood * General contractor, that specializes in building work ** Subcontractor * Real estate developer, who ...

to meet specific requirements. When they entered service they were the largest and fastest ships in the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, capable of operating 3 x

Westland Sea King The Westland WS-61 Sea King is a British licence-built version of the American Sikorsky S-61 helicopter of the same name, built by Westland Helicopters. The aircraft differs considerably from the American version, with Rolls-Royce Gnome eng ...

helicopter A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which Lift (force), lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning Helicopter rotor, rotors. This allows the helicopter to VTOL, take off and land vertically, to hover (helicopter), hover, and ...

s. The three ships in the class, , and , were an evolution of the earlier s. The lead ship of the class was launched as RFA ''Olynthus'', thus becoming known as ''Olynthus'' class although she was renamed RFA ''Olwen'' in 1967, to avoid confusion with . Consequently, the class became ''Olwen'' class, and thereafter Ol class. Similarly, RFA ''Olmeda'' originally entered service as RFA ''Oleander'', but was later renamed to avoid confusion with . The ships saw service in a wide range of locations and conflicts, including during

Operation Corporate The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial dependency, South Georgia and the South ...

, and which also saw ''Olmeda'' take part in the recapture of Thule Island, and in the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

during the 1991 Operation Granby. The ships were replaced by the s. One modified Ol-class vessel, , was built for the former

Imperial Iranian Navy The Iranian Navy traditionally located in the shallow waters of the Persian Gulf, has always been the smallest of the country's military forces. An Iranian navy in one form or another has existed since Achaemenid times in 500 BC. The Phoenician ...

in 1977. The vessel was delivered to the

Islamic Republic of Iran Navy The Islamic Republic of Iran Navy (IRIN; ), also referred as the Iranian Navy (abbreviated NEDAJA; ), is the naval warfare service branch of Iran's regular military, the Islamic Republic of Iran Army, Islamic Republic of Iran Army (''Artesh''). I ...

in 1984, and was lost on 2 June 2021.

Design

The class were designed to be long, breadth and draught, with a fully loaded displacement of and achieve a speed of . A normal complement consisted of 88 RFA and 40 RN personnel. The ships were armed with two x 20 mm guns and two Chaff rocket launchers. They each had four pairs of replenishment rigs which were located between the forward and aft superstructures. They were able to carry four types of fuels:

Furnace Fuel Oil Fuel oil is any of various fractions obtained from the distillation of petroleum (crude oil). Such oils include distillates (the lighter fractions) and residues (the heavier fractions). Fuel oils include heavy fuel oil (bunker fuel), marine fuel ...

Diesel Diesel may refer to: * Diesel engine, an internal combustion engine where ignition is caused by compression * Diesel fuel, a liquid fuel used in diesel engines * Diesel locomotive, a railway locomotive in which the prime mover is a diesel engine ...

Avcat Jet fuel or aviation turbine fuel (ATF, also abbreviated avtur) is a type of aviation fuel designed for use in aircraft powered by gas-turbine engines. It is colorless to straw-colored in appearance. The most commonly used fuels for commercial ...

and Mogas. Limited supplies of lubricating oils, fresh water and dry stores could also be carried. The ships each had constructed at their aft a helicopter

flight deck The flight deck of an aircraft carrier is the surface on which its aircraft take off and land, essentially a miniature airfield at sea. On smaller naval ships which do not have aviation as a primary mission, the landing area for helicopters ...

with a

hangar A hangar is a building or structure designed to hold aircraft or spacecraft. Hangars are built of metal, wood, or concrete. The word ''hangar'' comes from Middle French ''hanghart'' ("enclosure near a house"), of Germanic origin, from Frankish ...

Construction programme

Decommissioning and fate

In July 1994 ''Olmeda'' was sold for £1.2m to

Singaporean Singaporeans are the citizens and nationals of the sovereign island city-state of Singapore. Singapore is home to a people of a variety of ethno-racial-religious origins, with the city-state itself being a multi-racial, multi-cultural, m ...

owners and renamed ''Niaxco''. She then sailed under her own power from

HMNB Portsmouth His Majesty's Naval Base, Portsmouth (HMNB Portsmouth) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Devonport). Portsmouth Naval Base is part of the city of Portsmouth; it is loc ...

Alang Ship Breaking Yard The Alang Ship Breaking Yard is the world's largest ship breaking yard, responsible for dismantling more than a third of retired freight and cargo ships salvaged from around the world. It is located on the Gulf of Khambhat by the town of Alang, ...

in India, arriving in August. In 1999 ''Olwen'' was wthdrawn from service and laid up at Portsmouth and on 19 September 2000 she was handed over for disposal; purchased by the Eckhardt Organisation, Germany, for scrap. Then in January 2001 she was renamed ''Kea'' for the move to the breakers. On 24 September 2000 ''Olna'' was laid up at Portsmouth and on 12 October she was handed over for disposal. In February 2001 she was also purchased by the Eckhardt Organisation in Germany for scrap. In May it came to light that both ''Olna'' and ''Olwen'' had been banned from Turkish yards due to a high

asbestos Asbestos ( ) is a group of naturally occurring, Toxicity, toxic, carcinogenic and fibrous silicate minerals. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous Crystal habit, crystals, each fibre (particulate with length su ...

content. ''Olna'' was diverted to Greece and renamed ''Kos''. She then sailed via the

Suez Canal The Suez Canal (; , ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, Indo-Mediterranean, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia (and by extension, the Sinai Peninsula from the rest ...

to Alang Ship Breaking Yard in India, arriving on 20 June. ''Olwen'' was also diverted to Greece and she then also sailed via the Suez Canal to Alang, arriving on 21 July 2001. On 2 June 2021, the modified Ol-class

fleet replenishment oiler A replenishment oiler or replenishment tanker is a naval auxiliary ship with fuel tanks and dry cargo holds which can supply both fuel and dry stores during underway replenishment (UNREP) at sea. Many countries have used replenishment oilers. Th ...

of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy, ''Kharg'', caught fire, and sank near

Jask Jask ( and Balochi: جاشک) is a city in the Central District of Jask County, Hormozgan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Demographics Population At the time of the 2006 National Census, the city' ...

in the

Gulf of Oman The Gulf of Oman or Sea of Oman ( ''khalīj ʿumān''; ''daryâ-ye omân''), also known as Gulf of Makran or Sea of Makran ( ''khalīj makrān''; ''daryâ-ye makrān''), is a gulf in the Indian Ocean that connects the Arabian Sea with th ...

. All 400 crew were rescued, with 33 reported injured.

Gallery

File:RFA Olwen (A122) DN-SC-87-05080.jpeg, RFA ''Olwen'' in 1982. File:Bristol Group May 1982.jpg,

Bristol Group The Bristol group was a group of British warships that were sent to the "Total Exclusion Zone" as reinforcements late in the Falklands War. The majority sailed from the UK on 10 May 1982. The group consisted of: Destroyers *, Type 82 *, Type 42 ...

- A Type 21 frigate conducting replenishment at sea (RAS) with RFA ''Olna''. May 1982. Picture taken from

References

Citations

Bibliography

External links

O-class fleet replenishment tankers
{{Ol class tanker Auxiliary replenishment ship classes Ol Ship classes of the Islamic Republic of Iran Navy