RFA Tidespring (A75)

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.

History
United 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

Tidespring took part in the Falklands War, particularly in the recapture of South Georgia. At the time, she was carrying M Company (Captain Chris Nunn Royal Marines) 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.[1]

She eventually sailed from Portsmouth in tow on 20 March 1992 for the breakers, arriving in Alang, India for demolition on 2 July 1992.[1]