RFA ''Sir Galahad'' (L3005) was a landing ship logistics (LSL) of the

Royal Fleet Auxiliary The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) is a naval auxiliary fleet owned by the UK's Ministry of Defence. It provides logistical and operational support to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. The RFA ensures the Royal Navy is supplied and supported by ...

, later in service with the

Brazilian Navy ) , colors= Blue and white , colors_label= Colors , march= "Cisne Branco" ( en, "White Swan") (same name as training ship ''Cisne Branco'' , mascot= , equipment= 1 multipurpose aircraft carrier7 submarines6 frigates2 corvettes4 amphibious warf ...

as the ''Garcia D'Avila''.

Construction and design

''Sir Galahad'' was ordered on 6 September 1984 to a design by the shipbuilder Swan Hunter, as a replacement for the landing ship of the same name that had been sunk in the 1982

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 ...

. The ship was

laid down Laying the keel or laying down is the formal recognition of the start of a ship's construction. It is often marked with a ceremony attended by dignitaries from the shipbuilding company and the ultimate owners of the ship. Keel laying is one o ...

at Swan Hunter's

Wallsend Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne. History Roman Wallsend In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of Segedunum. This fo ...

shipyard on 12 July 1985, was launched on 13 December 1986 and completed on 19 July 1987, entering service on 7 December that year. The ship was

long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and ...

and between perpendiculars, with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a draught of at full load and light.

Displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

was light and full load. The ship was powered by two

Mirrlees Blackstone Mirrlees is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: *Hope Mirrlees (1887–1978), English translator, poet and novelist *James Mirrlees (born 1936), Scottish economist See also * MAN Diesel MAN Diesel SE was a German manufacturer of ...

K9 Major

diesel engine The diesel engine, named after Rudolf Diesel, is an internal combustion engine in which ignition of the fuel is caused by the elevated temperature of the air in the cylinder due to mechanical compression; thus, the diesel engine is a so-call ...

s, rated at a total of which drove two propeller shafts, giving a speed of . The ship had a range of .

Service

RFA ''Sir Galahad'' was built by Swan Hunter and entered service in 1988. She was named and given the identical

pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...

to the ''Sir Galahad'' sunk in the

. Built as a combined landing craft and ferry with two flight decks for helicopters and bow and stern doors, there was capacity for around 400 troops and 3,440 tonnes of supplies. She was deployed in 1991 for

Operation Granby Operation Granby, commonly abbreviated Op Granby, was the code name given to the British military operations during the 1991 Gulf War. 53,462 members of the British Armed Forces were deployed during the conflict. The total cost of operations wa ...

, 1995 in Angola

Operation Chantress Operation or Operations may refer to: Arts, entertainment and media * ''Operation'' (game), a battery-operated board game that challenges dexterity * Operation (music), a term used in musical set theory * ''Operations'' (magazine), Multi-Ma ...

and in 2003 for

Operation Telic Operation Telic (Op TELIC) was the codename under which all of the United Kingdom's military operations in Iraq were conducted between the start of the invasion of Iraq on 19 March 2003 and the withdrawal of the last remaining British forces on ...

to transport supplies. In 2003 ''Sir Galahad'' transported humanitarian aid, docking in

Umm Qasr Port Umm Qasr Port is Iraq's only deep water port, part of the city of Umm Qasr. Iraq's second port in scale of size and goods shipped to the port of Basra, it is strategically important, located on the western edge of the al-Faw peninsula, where the ...

on 28 March 2003, after being delayed while

naval mine A naval mine is a self-contained explosive device placed in water to damage or destroy surface ships or submarines. Unlike depth charges, mines are deposited and left to wait until they are triggered by the approach of, or contact with, any ...

s were cleared. On 26 April 2007, it was announced that she was to be purchased by

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. On 20 July 2006, the ship sailed from Marchwood to

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

, to be decommissioned. She was commissioned into the

as ''Navio de Desembarque de Carros de Combate (NDCC) "Garcia D'Avila"'' on 4 December 2007. In Brazilian service, she was responsible for transporting vehicles and supplies to

Port-au-Prince Port-au-Prince ( , ; ht, Pòtoprens ) is the capital and most populous city of Haiti. The city's population was estimated at 987,311 in 2015 with the metropolitan area estimated at a population of 2,618,894. The metropolitan area is define ...

in support of

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

peacekeepers deployed in Haiti during

MINUSTAH ) , leader_title = Head , leader_name = Sandra Honoré (Special Representative of the Secretary-General) , status = Replaced by MINUJUSTH , formation = 1 June 2004 , websiteUN Peacekeeping: MINUSTAH

. In June 2019 it was announced than the ship will be decommissioned on 29 October 2019.

Gallery

Image:US_Navy_030328-N-3783H-279_The_Royal_Fleet_Auxiliary,_Landing_Ship_Logistic_RFA_Sir_Galahad_(L_3005)_arrives_in_the_Iraqi_port_city_of_Umm_Qsar.jpg, RFA ''Sir Galahad'' arrives in the Iraqi port city of Umm Qasr on 28 March 2003 Image:RFA Sir Galahad 2003.jpg, RFA ''Sir Galahad'' in Umm Qasr, delivering the first shipment of humanitarian aid from Coalition forces. Image:RFA Sir Galahad L3005.jpg, RFA Sir Galahad in 2003. Image:NDCC Garcia D'Avila (G-29).jpg, Ex RFA ''Sir Galahad'' (G-29) in 2007. Image:NDCC Garcia D'Avila (G-29) 3.jpg, Ex RFA ''Sir Galahad'' (G-29) arriving in Brazil 2008. Image:Garcia D'Avila in Port-au-Prince.jpg, NDCC ''Garcia D'Ávila'' unloading an APC during

, 2013.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sir Galahad Galahad (1987) Ships built on the River Tyne 1986 ships Round Table-class landing ships logistics of the Brazilian Navy Ships built by Swan Hunter