RFA Wave Victor
{{Short description|1946 Wave-class oiler of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2018}}
| {{Infobox ship begin}}
{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=RFA Wave Victor.jpg |Ship caption=RFA Wave Victor }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United Kingdom |Ship flag=File:British-Royal-Fleet-Auxiliary-Ensign.svg |Ship name=*SS Empire Bounty (1943-46)
|Ship namesake= |Ship ordered= |Ship builder=Furness Shipbuilding Company, Haverton Hill-on-Tees |Ship yard number=356 |Ship laid down=16 November 1942 |Ship launched=30 September 1943 |Ship owner=*Ministry of War Transport (1943-46)
|Ship operator=*Anglo Saxon Petroleum Co Ltd (1944-46)
|Ship acquired= |Ship completed=February 1944 |Ship commissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship registry= {{flagicon|United Kingdom|civil}} Middlesbrough (1944-46) |Ship identification=*UK Official Number 169126 (1943-46)
|Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship honours= |Ship fate=*Transferred to the Air Ministry as a refuelling hulk
|Ship notes= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class= |Ship tonnage={{GRT|8,187|disp=long}} |Ship displacement=16,483 long tons full load |Ship length=*{{convert|492|ft|8|in|m|2|abbr=on}} LOA
|Ship beam={{convert|64|ft|3|in|m|2|abbr=on}} |Ship draught={{convert|28|ft|6|in|m|2|abbr=on}} |Ship depth={{convert|35|ft|4|in|abbr=on}} |ship power=Two Parsons double reduction geared turbines,3 drum type boilers, {{convert|6800|hp|kW|abbr=on}}. |Ship propulsion=Single screw |Ship speed={{convert|14.5|kn|km/h}} |Ship range= |Ship complement=60 |Ship sensors= |Ship EW= |Ship armament= |Ship armour= |Ship armor= |Ship aircraft= |Ship aircraft facilities= |Ship notes= }} |
RFA Wave Victor (A220) was an {{GRT|8187|link=off}} Wave-class fleet support tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary built at Haverton Hill-on-Tees by Furness Shipbuilding Company. She was built in 1942 as Empire Bounty for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT). She was transferred to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in 1946 and renamed Wave Victor with Pennant number X130. Her pennant number was later changed to A220. She served until scrapped in 1981.
Description
Empire Bounty was laid down at the yards of the Furness Shipbuilding Company, Haverton Hill-on-Tees on 16 November 1942. She was yard number 356.{{csr|register=MSI|id=1169126|accessdate=21 February 2009}} Empire Bounty was launched on 30 September 1943 and completed in February 1944.{{cite book |last=Colledge |title=Ships of the Royal Navy, Vol. 2 |page=383}} Empire Bounty was recorded on Lloyd's Register as being {{convert|473|ft|8|in|m|2}} long, with a beam of {{convert|64|ft|3|in|m|2}} and a depth of {{convert|35|ft|4|in}}. She was propelled by two steam turbines driving a single screw. The turbines were made by Richardsons, Westgarth & Co Ltd, Hartlepool.{{cite web|url=https://plimsoll.southampton.gov.uk/shipdata/pdfs/43/43b1109.pdf |title=LLOYD'S REGISTER, STEAMERS & MOTORSHIPS |publisher=Plimsoll Ship Data |access-date=6 December 2009}}
Career
=Empire Bounty=
Empire Bounty entered service for the MoWT, and was operated on their behalf by the Anglo-Saxon Petroleum Company, of London.{{cite web |url=http://www.mariners-l.co.uk/EmpireB.html|title=EMPIRE - B |access-date=21 February 2009|publisher=mariners-l.co.uk}} Her Official Number was 169126 and she used the Code Letters GCBT.
Empire Bounty was a member of a number of convoys during the Second World War, mostly between Liverpool and New York. Her first crossing was with Convoy UC 14, leaving Liverpool on 1 March 1944 and arriving at New York on 11 March.{{cite web|url=http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/uc/index.html?uc.php?convoy=14! |title=Convoy UC.14 |publisher=Convoyweb |access-date=6 December 2009}} She returned to America with Convoy UC 28, departing Liverpool on 1 July 1944 and arriving at New York on 12 July.{{cite web|url=http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/uc/index.html?uc.php?convoy=28! |title=Convoy UC.28 |publisher=Convoyweb |access-date=6 December 2009}} Empire Bounty made one further voyage to New York that year, leaving Liverpool on 28 December and reaching her destination on 8 January 1945, having sailed via Belfast Lough.{{cite web|url=http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/uc/index.html?uc.php?convoy=50B! |title=Convoy UC.50B |publisher=Convoyweb |access-date=6 December 2009}} She returned to Britain with Convoy CU 54, departing New York on 19 January 1945 and reaching Liverpool on 22 January, from where she made for the Isle of Grain.{{cite web|url=http://www.warsailors.com/convoys/cu54.html |title=Convoy CU 54 |publisher=Warsailors |access-date=6 December 2009}}
Empire Bounty sailed with four more convoys before the end of the war, all between Liverpool and New York. She sailed from Liverpool with Convoy UC 54A on 28 January 1945, arriving on 9 February.{{cite web|url=http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/uc/index.html?uc.php?convoy=54A! |title=Convoy UC.54A |publisher=Convoyweb |access-date=6 December 2009}} Empire Bounty sailed from Milford Haven on 29 January.{{cite web|url=https://historicalrfa.uk/rfa-wave-victor/|title=RFA Wave Victor |publisher=Historical RFA |access-date=6 December 2009}} She returned with Convoy CU 59, departing on 19 February 1945 and arriving at Liverpool on 1 March, from where she headed to the Clyde.{{cite web|url=http://www.warsailors.com/convoys/cu59.html |title=Convoy CU 59 |publisher=Warsailors |access-date=6 December 2009}} Two journeys back to America with convoys followed, with Convoy UC 59A between 6 March 1945 and 17 March,{{cite web|url=http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/uc/index.html?uc.php?convoy=59A! |title=Convoy UC.59A |publisher=Convoyweb |access-date=6 December 2009}} having sailed from Milford Haven, and with Convoy UC 66A from 2 May 1945 to 13 May.{{cite web|url=http://www.convoyweb.org.uk/uc/index.html?uc.php?convoy=66A! |title=Convoy UC.66A |publisher=Convoyweb |access-date=6 December 2009}} Empire Bounty put into Fayal with an unspecified defect that her master stated could only be repaired in the United Kingdom. She sailed from Fayal on 17 May and arrived at West Hartlepool on 29 May. Repairs took until 23 June to complete.
=Wave Victor=
Empire Bounty and the remaining MOWT operated tankers of her class were transferred to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in 1946 and Empire Bounty was renamed Wave Victor. She was allocated Pennant number X130.
In 1952, there was a fire on board Wave Victor whilst she was anchored off Greenock, Renfrewshire. On 17 January 1954, Wave Victor was sailing down the Bristol Channel when a fire broke out in the engine room. The fire was reported at 17:24, and five minutes later was stated to be "out of control". At 17:37 a message was broadcast by radio that the ship was to be abandoned.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Naval Tanker Abandoned |date=18 January 1954 |page=6 |issue=52832 |column=C }} Several tugs and lifeboats, as well as the corvette {{HMS|Carisbrooke Castle|K379|6}} came out to the ship, but by then the fire was raging out of control and the crew abandoned her, fearing the explosion of her bunkers. The tug Nirumand brought six firemen from Swansea to the ship, which was {{convert|9|nmi|km}} off Bull Point, Devon. Acting Chief Engineer George McBain remained aboard so the vessel could not be claimed by private tugs under marine salvage laws. The ship continued to drift, and after some time several of the crew and a fire fighting team re-boarded her and brought the fire under control. The fire was extinguished by 12:00 the next day.{{Cite newspaper The Times |title=Tanker Towed Into Dock |date=19 January 1954 |page=6 |issue=52833 |column=D }} She was subsequently towed back to Swansea, and then to Wallsend on Tyne to be repaired.{{cite web |url=http://www.historicalrfa.org/archived-stories/604-rfa-wave-victor-catches-fire|title=RFA Wave Victor Catches Fire |access-date=14 April 2011|publisher=RFA Historical Society}}
She was loaned to the Air Ministry in 1960, and transferred to Gan, the location of RAF Gan, as a refuelling hulk. She remained in this role until replaced in 1971 by RFA Wave Ruler, and was then laid up in Manila Bay in 1975.She was finally scrapped in 1981.
Notes
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References
- {{cite book |first=J.J.|last=Colledge |author-link=J. J. Colledge|title=Ships of the Royal Navy: An Historical Index Volume 2: Navy-built Trawlers, Drifters, Tugs and Requisitioned Ships|publisher=David & Charles|location=Newton Abbot}}
- {{cite web |url=http://www.mariners-l.co.uk/EmpireB.html |title=EMPIRE - B |access-date=21 February 2009 |first=Ted|last=Finch |year=2001 |work=THE 'EMPIRE' SHIPS |publisher=mariners-l.co.uk}}
- {{cite web|url=http://www.historicalrfa.org/index.php/component/content/article/15-stories/604-rfa-wave-victor-catches-fire |title=RFA Wave Victor Catches Fire |access-date=21 February 2009 |publisher=RFA Historical Society |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081224170541/http://www.historicalrfa.org/index.php/component/content/article/15-stories/604-rfa-wave-victor-catches-fire |archive-date=24 December 2008 }}
{{Wave class oiler}}
{{1954 shipwrecks}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wave Victor}}
Category:Tankers of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary
Category:Ministry of War Transport ships
Category:Steamships of the United Kingdom
Category:Tankers of the United Kingdom