RFA ''Oakleaf'' (A111) was a Leaf-class fleet support tanker of 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 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 ...

. Formerly the Swedish vessel MV ''Oktania'', built by A. B. Uddevalla, Sweden, and completed in 1981, ''Oakleaf'' was added to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in 1986, before being decommissioned in 2007. She was the second Royal Fleet Auxiliary vessel to bear the name.

Role

As well as their role of replenishing warships at sea, support tankers perform the bulk movement of fuels between Ministry of Defense (Navy) depots. The ''Oakleaf'' had three Leaf-class sisters - ''Brambleleaf'', ''Bayleaf'' and ''Orangeleaf''. All four were originally designed as commercial tankers and underwent major conversions to bring them up to Royal Fleet Auxiliary standards and equip them for naval support. These involved adding a considerable amount of electronics, both in communications and navigational aids, fitting two replenishment rigs and increasing the amount of accommodation. While the ships can provide some food and stores support, their main cargoes are diesel and

aviation fuel Aviation fuels are either petroleum-based or blends of petroleum and synthetic fuels, used to power aircraft. They have more stringent requirements than fuels used for ground applications, such as heating and road transport, and they contain add ...

. ''Oakleaf'' was capable of replenishing ships with fuel using a standard jackstay or

derrick A derrick is a lifting device composed at minimum of one guyed mast, as in a gin pole, which may be articulated over a load by adjusting its Guy-wire, guys. Most derricks have at least two components, either a guyed mast or self-supporting tower ...

rig abeam and towed rig for astern replenishment. She was fitted to take containers on her main deck for the provision of stores and to enhance ship's stores capabilities for long deployments.

Design

The normal complement was 36, composed of officers and senior and junior ratings. Among the departments, the PO (Supply) was responsible for 5,000 stores line items as well as for food and drink, clothing and bedding. The RISC (Royal Fleet Auxiliary Interim Stores Computer) system was his only assistant on board. ''Oakleaf'' was powered by a four-cylinder Burmeister and Wain long stroke oil engine capable of developing driving a single controllable-pitch propeller. She also had bow and stern variable-pitch thrust propellers. Fitted with automatic power management, the vessel could be operated with her machinery spaces unmanned - as with her sister ships, her engines could be controlled from either the ship's bridge or the (air conditioned) machinery control room.

Operational history

On 29 March 1985 approval was given to

charter A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the ...

MV ''Oktania'' to replace the Leaf-class support tanker and she was purchased in June by James Fisher & Sons,

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, for

bareboat charter A bareboat charter, or demise charter, is an arrangement for the chartering or hiring of a ship or boat for which no crew or provisions are included as part of the agreement. Instead, the renter of the vessel from the owner is responsible for ...

to the

Ministry of Defence A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...

(MoD). By September she had arrived on

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for formal docking and inspection, and had approval granted by

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and the Admiralty Ship’s Name and Badge Committee, for her new name. At the end of the year invitations to tender were issued, for her conversion. At the start of 1986 she was officially presented with her

Ship's Badge Naval heraldry is a form of identification used by naval vessels from the end of the 19th century onwards, after distinguishing features such as Figurehead (object), figureheads and gilding were discouraged or banned by several navies. Naval heral ...

and in February her £5m, six month conversion work began at

Falmouth, Cornwall Falmouth ( ; ) is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. Falmouth was founded in 1613 by the Killigrew family on a site near the existing Pendennis Castle. It developed as a po ...

, by Falmouth Shiprepairer Ltd. Upon completion in August, she ran

sea trial A sea trial or trial trip is the testing phase of a watercraft (including boats, ships, and submarines). It is also referred to as a "shakedown cruise" by many naval personnel. It is usually the last phase of construction and takes place on op ...

s and was formally renamed ''Oakleaf''. Captain Bruce Seymour, RFA, took command and ''Oakleaf'' sailed for

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Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, to store and then to

Portland Portland most commonly refers to: *Portland, Oregon, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Oregon *Portland, Maine, the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine *Isle of Portland, a tied island in the English Channel Portland may also r ...

for Basic Operational Sea Training (BOST). ''Oakleaf''s maiden voyage was a trip to

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, in September 1986. In March 1987 she berthed at

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, Florida and by 25 March she had returned to

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Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. In September 1988 the vessel was involved in humanitarian relief operations in the

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following Hurricane Gilbert, supporting the Royal Navy's

Type 21 frigate The Type 21 frigate, or ''Amazon''-class frigate, was a British Royal Navy general-purpose escort that was designed in the late 1960s, built in the 1970s and served throughout the 1980s into the 1990s. Development In the mid-1960s, the Royal Na ...

. The Royal Navy acted in support of United Nations resolutions and ''Oakleaf'' provided extensive support and replenished ships of an international maritime task force, formed as part of

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-led

Operation Uphold Democracy Operation Uphold Democracy was a multinational military intervention designed to remove the military regime led and installed by Raoul Cédras after the 1991 Haitian coup d'état overthrew the elected President Jean-Bertrand Aristide. The op ...

, in

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, in September 1994. In July 1995, the West Indies Guardship, the Royal Navy's Type 42 destroyer and her support ship, ''Oakleaf'' provided assistance following

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on the island of

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. In September 2001 she took part in Exercise Argonaut 2001, which included Exercise Saif Sareea, together with the , fourteen other Royal Navy warships along with the RFA’s replenishment ships , and , the

Round Table class landing ship logistics Round or rounds may refer to: Mathematics and science * Having no sharp corners, as an ellipse, circle, or sphere * Rounding, reducing the number of significant figures in a number * Round number, ending with one or more zeroes * Round (cryp ...

, , and (II), sister ship and forward repair ship .

Decommissioning and fate

In 2007 it was announced that ''Oakleaf'' would be reduced to “zero manning” along with Leaf class sister . She was later decommissioned from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary and laid up awaiting disposal at Her Majesty's Naval Base in Portsmouth. LEYAL Ship Recycling Ltd, a Turkish company, were awarded preferred bidder status for the disposal of the vessel. Ex-RFA ''Oakleaf'' left Portsmouth on 29 September 2010 in the tow of tug ''Mega One'' for

Aliağa Aliağa () is a municipality and district of İzmir Province, Turkey. Its area is 379 km2, and its population is 104,828 (2022). The town is situated at about north of İzmir. Aliağa has a large port, mainly for oil and bulk cargo. Its e ...

, Turkey, for breaking, arriving on 22 October 2010. On 31 January 2011 it was reported she had been dismantled and recycled, taking three months to complete.

References

External links