RFA Grey Rover

The RFA Grey Rover around the coast of South Georgia Falkland Islands, October 2005.
History
United Kingdom
Name	Grey Rover
Ordered	January 1968
Builder	Swan Hunter
Yard number	7
Laid down	28 February 1968
Launched	17 April 1969
In service	10 March 1970
Out of service	24 February 2006
Identification	IMO number: 6923163 Callsign: GYXM Pennant number: A269 Flight deck: GY
Fate	Scrapped
Badge
General characteristics
Class and type	Rover-class tanker
Tonnage	7,509 GRT 3,185 NRT 6,822 DWT
Displacement	11,522 tons full load
Length	461 ft 4 in (140.61 m)
Beam	63 ft 2 in (19.25 m)
Draught	24 ft 0 in (7.32 m)
Depth	33 ft 6 in (10.21 m)
Propulsion	2 x 16 cyl Ruston diesel engines (orig) 2 × SEMT-Pielstick 16 PA 4 diesel engines (post 1975) 15,360 hp (11,450 kW) 1 × shaft Bow thruster
Speed	18 knots (33 km/h; 21 mph)
Range	15,000 miles (24,000 km) at 15 knots (28 km/h)
Capacity	7,460 m3 (46,900 bbl) fuel oil 600 tons aviation fuel 70 tons lubricating oil 362 m3 (80,000 imp gal) fresh water
Complement	16 officers 31 ratings
Sensors and processing systems	Sperry Marine Visionmaster radars and ECDIS 1690 I band navigation radars
Electronic warfare & decoys	2 × Corvus and 2 × Plessey Shield decoy launchers Graseby Type 182 towed torpedo decoy
Armament	2 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannon 2 × 7.62 mm machine guns
Aircraft carried	one flight spot for a Merlin can take a Chinook
Aviation facilities	Helicopter deck (no hangar)

RFA Grey Rover (A269) was a Rover-class small fleet tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA). She was decommissioned in 2006.

Launch and commissioning

Grey Rover was launched at the Swan Hunter yard, Hebburn on Tyne, on 17 April 1969. The Lady Sponsor was Lady Parker, the wife of Vice Admiral Sir John Parker who was Flag Officer Medway. She was completed on 10 April 1970 and accepted into service three months later than planned.

Operational history

1970–1980

In September 1970, Grey Rover took over from RFA Black Ranger as Flag Officer Sea Training (FOST) tanker.

In July 1973, she was involved in a collision with the Canadian submarine HMCS Okanagan resulting in the need to dry dock in Govan for repairs.

Between 17 June and 22 June 1976 she stood off the Lebanon to evacuate British nationals along with RFA Stromness and the frigates HMS Exmouth and HMS Mermaid.

1981–1990

During Operation Corporate (the Falklands War), Grey Rover was the only operational RFA tanker which remained in UK waters. She carried out replenishment at sea (RAS) trials with STUFT ships en route to the Falkland Islands in the southwest approaches to the English Channel whilst herself was based at Portland. The smallest vessel worked with was the trawler FV Farnella and the largest was the ocean liner Queen Elizabeth 2.

1991–2000

In January 1994, Grey Rover berthed at Cape Town, South Africa, in company with HMS Norfolk for a five-day visit. Both ships were open to the public and 53,000 visitors were received on board both ships.

Grey Rover's last refit was 15 June–27 November 1998 which extended her service life into the 21st century.

2001–2006

External videos
A time-lapse video of the vessel being scrapped via Vimeo

On 2 February 2006, while supporting the Type 42 destroyer HMS Southampton in the Caribbean as part of Atlantic Patrol Task (North), Grey Rover was involved in the boarding of merchant vessel MV Rampage and the seizure of 3.5 tonnes (3.4 long tons; 3.9 short tons) of cocaine with an estimated street value of £350 million.

In November 2004, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence Procurement Lord Bach announced that Grey Rover would have a decommissioning date of 2007. She paid off early on 15 March 2006 and was towed to Canada Dock, Liverpool for scrapping.

External links

• RFA Grey Rover - Ships Nostalgia
• RFA Grey Rover - Flickr