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RFA Tidespring (A75) facts for kids

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RFA Tidespring
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History
Royal Fleet Auxiliary EnsignUnited Kingdom
Name RFA Tidespring
Ordered 28 February 1961
Builder Hawthorn Leslie and Company
Laid down 24 July 1961
Launched 3 May 1962
Commissioned 18 January 1963
Decommissioned 13 December 1991
Identification IMO number: 5361033
Fate Scrapped 1992
General characteristics
Class and type Tide-class replenishment oiler
Displacement 27,400 long tons (27,840 t)
Length 583 ft 8 in (177.90 m)
Beam 71 ft 3 in (21.72 m)
Draught 32 ft 1 in (9.78 m)
Propulsion 2 × Foster Wheeler watertube steam boilers, 2 × Parmetrada steam turbines, double reduction gearbox, single shaft
Speed 17 knots (20 mph; 31 km/h)
Aircraft carried 3 × Westland Wessex helicopters
Service record
Operations: Falklands War

RFA Tidespring (A75) was a Tide-class replenishment oiler of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. As a replenishment oiler, her main purpose was to refuel other ships. The ship had a long career in the RFA, entering service in the early 1960s, and finally being decommissioned in 1991.

Tidespring took part in the Falklands War, particularly in the recapture of South Georgia. At the time, she was carrying M Company of 42 Commando Royal Marines. The ship accommodated prisoners of war taken during operations. The Falklands provided a reprieve of ten years for Tidespring which had been due to decommission in 1982.

She eventually sailed from Portsmouth in tow on 20 March 1992 for the breakers, arriving in Alang, India, for demolition on 2 July 1992.

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