RFA Sea Salvor (A503)
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RFA ''Sea Salvor'' (A503) was a salvage vessel of the post-war
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 ...
. She also served as a support ship for Mine Counter Measures vessels. Built by the Goole Shipbuilding & Repair Co. Ltd.,
Goole Goole is a port town and civil parish on the River Ouse, Yorkshire, River Ouse in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. The town's Historic counties of England, historic county is the West Riding of Yorkshire. At the 2021 United Kingdom censu ...
, the ship was launched on 22 April 1943, and commissioned in February 1944. Decommissioned in April 1971, the ship was laid up at
HMNB Devonport His Majesty's Naval Base, Devonport (HMNB Devonport) is one of three operating bases in the United Kingdom for the Royal Navy (the others being HMNB Clyde and HMNB Portsmouth) and is the sole nuclear repair and refuelling facility for the Roya ...
, and arrived at
Grays, Essex Grays (or Grays Thurrock) is the largest town in the borough and unitary authority area of Thurrock, in the ceremonial county of Essex, England. The town, which is both a former civil parish and one of List of traditional (Church of England) par ...
for scrapping on 18 January 1973.


Service history

From February to May 1954 she recovered wreckage of the
British Overseas Airways Corporation British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the United Kingdom, British state-owned national airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II ...
's
de Havilland Comet The de Havilland DH.106 Comet is the world's first commercial jet airliner. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland in the United Kingdom, the Comet 1 prototype first flew in 1949. It features an aerodynamically clean design with four ...
G-ALYP "Yoke Peter" which crashed on 10 January 1954 after taking off from
Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...
, Italy. ''Sea Salvor'' deployed for service during "Operation Musketeer" – the
Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, also known as the Second Arab–Israeli War, the Tripartite Aggression in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel, was a British–French–Israeli invasion of Egypt in 1956. Israel invaded on 29 October, having done so w ...
– in December 1956. In April 1961 ''Sea Salvor'' was 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 ...
. On 9 April she took the burning passenger and cargo ship in tow, to try to beach her to prevent her from sinking. However, within of the beach, ''Dara'' rolled over and sank. In January 1968 ''Sea Salvor'', together with the minesweepers , , and took part in relief efforts following the
1968 Belice earthquake The 1968 Belice earthquake sequence took place in Sicily between 14 and 15 January. The largest shock measured 5.5 on the moment magnitude scale, with five others of magnitude 5+. The maximum perceived intensity was X (''Extreme'') on the Mercall ...
that struck
Sicily Sicily (Italian language, Italian and ), officially the Sicilian Region (), is an island in the central Mediterranean Sea, south of the Italian Peninsula in continental Europe and is one of the 20 regions of Italy, regions of Italy. With 4. ...
on 14–15 January.


References


External links

*https://historicalrfa.uk/rfa-sea-salvor/ *http://www.rfanostalgia.org/gallery3/index.php/RFA-TUGS-SALVAGE/Salvage King Salvor-class salvage vessels Ships built in Goole 1944 ships {{UK-aux-ship-stub