RFA ''Tidepool'' (A76) was a 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 ...

. ''Tidepool'' had a long and busy life in the fleet. The ship participated in both the

Cod Wars The Cod Wars (; also known as , ; ) were a series of 20th-century confrontations between the United Kingdom (with aid from West Germany) and Iceland about Exclusive economic zone, fishing rights in the North Atlantic. Each of the disputes ended ...

and the Beira Patrol during the 1970s. In 1982 when the

Falklands War The Falklands War () was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British Overseas Territories, British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and Falkland Islands Dependenci ...

broke out ''Tidepool'' was on its way to

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

to be disposed of. The ship was temporarily reclaimed by 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 ...

and was finally handed over to the Chilean Navy on 13 August 1982 and renamed ''Almirante Jorge Montt''.

Design and construction

''Tidepool'' had a normal complement consisting 110 Royal Fleet Auxiliary personnel with provision for up to 24

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 ...

personnel. She was designed with abeam

replenishment at sea Underway replenishment (UNREP) ( U.S. Navy) or replenishment at sea (RAS) (North Atlantic Treaty Organization/Commonwealth of Nations) is a method of transferring fuel, munitions, and stores from one ship to another while under way. First devel ...

rigs, which had automatic tensioning winches and she had an astern fuelling rig. ''Tidepool'' was also fitted with a single spot 50 x 70 ft

helicopter deck A helicopter deck (or helo deck) is a helicopter pad on the deck of a ship, usually located on the stern and always clear of obstacles that would prove hazardous to a helicopter landing. In the United States Navy, it is commonly and properly refe ...

, designed to be capable of handling the Royal Navy

Westland Wessex The Westland Wessex is a British-built turbine-powered development of the Sikorsky H-34. It was developed and produced under licence by Westland Aircraft (later Westland Helicopters). One of the main changes from Sikorsky's H-34 was the rep ...

helicopters used at the time. She had

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 ...

facilities for a single helicopter and could support aviation refuelling. The ship was built to carry 9,500 tons of Furnace Fuel Oil, 5,500 tons of

diesel oil Diesel fuel, also called diesel oil, heavy oil (historically) or simply diesel, is any liquid fuel specifically designed for use in a diesel engine, a type of internal combustion engine in which fuel ignition takes place without a spark as a re ...

and 2,000 tons of

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 the forward hold could take dry cargo. The construction of ''Tidepool'' was carried out by the shipbuilder Hawthorn Leslie, at Hebburn. The ship was laid down on 4 December 1961 and launched twelve months later on 11 December 1962. She displaced, fully loaded, 27,400 tons, was just under 584 ft in overall length and was capable of 17 knots.

Operational history

''Tidepool'' was completed and entered service with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary on 11 December 1962, replacing the fleet support tanker .

Beira Patrol

Along with air stores support ship and the armament support ship , ''Tidepool'' was deployed on the Beira Patrol in the

Mozambique Channel The Mozambique Channel (, , ) is an arm of the Indian Ocean located between the Southeast African countries of Madagascar and Mozambique. The channel is about long and across at its narrowest point, and reaches a depth of about off the coa ...

in March 1966, to enforce United Nations sanctions against

Rhodesia Rhodesia ( , ; ), officially the Republic of Rhodesia from 1970, was an unrecognised state, unrecognised state in Southern Africa that existed from 1965 to 1979. Rhodesia served as the ''de facto'' Succession of states, successor state to the ...

. The RFA provided support for initially a Royal Navy

aircraft carrier An aircraft carrier is a warship that serves as a seagoing airbase, equipped with a full-length flight deck and hangar facilities for supporting, arming, deploying and recovering carrier-based aircraft, shipborne aircraft. Typically it is the ...

and two

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and maneuvera ...

s. On this deployment ''Tidepool'' claimed the record for the longest time in the Mozambique Channel at fifty-three days, and was continuously at sea for eighty-one days.

Task Group 317.5

On 25 January 1977 ''Tidepool'' left

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 ...

as part of Task Group 317.5, for an

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

deployment led by the Royal Navy’s converted helicopter cruiser , in the company of the RFA’s small fleet tanker and the fleet stores ship . She returned to the United Kingdom in May.

Task Group 317.6

On 5 September 1977, along with RFA’s small fleet tanker , the ammunition, explosives and stores supply ship and the fleet stores ship ''Tarbatness'', ''Tidepool'' departed

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 ...

involved in Task Group 317.7, again supporting the helicopter cruiser ''Tiger'', the task group’s flagship, and accompanied by the Royal Navy's ''Rothesay''-class frigate . The deployment was for seven and half months, and covered

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

and the

Far East The Far East is the geographical region that encompasses the easternmost portion of the Asian continent, including North Asia, North, East Asia, East and Southeast Asia. South Asia is sometimes also included in the definition of the term. In mod ...

. She returned to the United Kingdom on 20 April 1978.

References

Citations

Bibliography

* *

External links

* Chilean Navy websit
Almirante Jorge Montt
Tide-class replenishment oilers Falklands War naval ships of the United Kingdom 1962 ships Almirante Jorge Montt {{UK-aux-ship-stub