RFA Olna (A123)

For other ships with the same name, see RFA Olna.

RFA Olna underway in 1991
History
United Kingdom
Name	RFA Olna
Ordered	4 February 1963 as AO 16
Builder	Hawthorn Leslie and Company
Yard number	756
Laid down	2 July 1964
Launched	28 July 1965 by Barbara Redman
In service	1 April 1966
Out of service	24 September 2000
Identification	IMO number: 6519467 Callsign: GOGS Pennant number: A123 Flight deck: ON
Honours and awards	Falkland Islands 1982 Kuwait 1991
Fate	Renamed Kos in May 2001. Arrived Alang for demolition 20 June 2001.
Notes
Badge
General characteristics
Class and type	Ol-class tanker
Displacement	36,027 long tons (36,605 t) full load
Length	648 ft (198 m)
Beam	84 ft 2 in (25.65 m)
Draught	34 ft (10 m)
Propulsion	2× Pametrada steam turbines 26,500 hp (19,761 kW), double reduction gearbox to single screw 2× Babcock & Wilcox selectable superheat boilers Bow thrust propeller 3825 tons FFO, consumption 160 TPD at max power
Speed	21 knots (24 mph; 39 km/h)
Range	10,000 nmi (19,000 km) at 16 kn (18 mph; 30 km/h)
Complement	88 RFA 40 RN
Armament	2× 20 mm guns 2× Chaff launchers
Aircraft carried	3× Westland Wessex or Westland Sea King helicopters
Service record
Operations:	Operation Corporate Operation Granby

RFA Olna (A123) was the third and final of the three Ol-class "fast fleet tanker" of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA), the naval auxiliary fleet of the United Kingdom. She was designed by the builders to meet specific requirements and be capable of maintaining “fleet speed” (defined as sustained steaming at 20 knots). When she entered service she was one of the largest and fastest ships in the RFA Fleet. Olna saw service in the Falklands War.

Background

Her design was a development of the Tide-class ships of the late 1950s. She was commissioned in 1966 and served in the RFA for 34 years. Olna was the third ship of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary to bear the name.

Operational history

Olna entered service as the UK was pulling back from its final large imperial garrisons. Much of the ship's early life was spent supporting routine deployments around the world.

1967-1968

In Operation Magister, Olna was part of the fleet covering the final British military withdrawal from Aden, along with nine other RFAs.

Falklands War

In 1982 Olna left for the South Atlantic as part of the second wave of ships to leave the UK during the Falklands War. That group was centred on the destroyer HMS Bristol. Once Olna reached theatre, her time was primarily spent fuelling the carrier battle group.

Olna replenishing frigates as part of the Bristol Group en route to the Falklands War in 1982

1983-2000

In 1990, another wartime deployment beckoned. As forces built up in the Persian Gulf, Olna joined the British task force on station. Olna arrived in August 1990, shortly after Iraq invaded Kuwait, and apart from a short maintenance period in Singapore was on station for the whole duration of the conflict. Olna operated further north than any other tanker as the US Navy was wary of mines after two ships had been severely damaged.

At the end of the 1990s, retirement was in sight. 1999 and 2000 were spent in mothballs at Gibraltar until the outbreak of a crisis in Sierra Leone called for Olna to make one last deployment. The ship did not proceed to Sierra Leone, but instead relieved other RFA vessels of participation in a major exercise off Scotland. Following this exercise, the ship returned to reserve and decommissioned soon thereafter.

Decommissioning

In February 2001 Olna was sold to Eckhardt Organisation, for scrap and on 9 March she was towed out from Portsmouth. However, in May it was revealed she had been banned from Turkish yards owing to the high quantity of asbestos aboard and was diverted to Greece. She was renamed Kos and sailed via the Suez Canal, arriving at Alang Ship Breaking Yard, India, on 20 June 2001.

Battle honours

On 11 January 1985, RFA Olna was awarded her Falkland Islands 1982 Battle Honour, by Rear Admiral John C. Worsop, CB, RN, – Flag Officer, Portsmouth.

References

• O Class Fleet Replenishment Tankers Archived 27 July 2011 at the Wayback Machine