RFA ''Engadine'' (K08) was a helicopter support ship of the
Royal Fleet Auxiliary.
The need for ''Engadine'' was seen in the mid-1960s as more and more helicopters were deployed from
Royal Navy aircraft carriers and surface combatants. The ship was ordered in August 1964, from
Henry Robb of
Leith, and commissioned in December 1967, replacing . She was the third British ship named
HMS ''Engadine'' the previous two being a seaplane carrier and an aircraft transport ship. ''Engadine'' comes from the
Engadin valley in south-east Switzerland, which is represented by the
alphorns and
edelweiss on her badge.
In 1968 she was designated as one of the
PYTHON locations for the dispersal and
continuity of government in the event of nuclear war.
''Engadines
homeport throughout her career was
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
, Dorset. During the
1976 crisis in Lebanon she was deployed as part of contingency planning to evacuate British citizens.
At the
Silver Jubilee fleet review in 1977 she followed the royal yacht .
In the
Falklands War
The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) 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 de ...
she was a helicopter support and refuelling ship in
San Carlos Water.
By the mid-1980s ''Engadine'' was becoming obsolescent so the
container ship MV ''Contender Bezant'' was bought for conversion, becoming . ''Engadine'' was decommissioned in 1989 and sold to new owners in
Greece. She arrived at