 | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations. (December 2011) |
&sq=Qlik&lang=&file=File:RFA_Diligence_During_a_Counter_Piracy_Boarding_Exercise_MOD_45153208.jpg) RFA Diligence acting as a target ship during a boarding exercise in 2011
| |
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | RFA Diligence |
| Builder | Öresundsvarvet AB, Landskrona, Sweden[1] |
| Launched | January 1981[1] |
| Acquired | October 1983[1] |
| Commissioned | 12 March 1984[1] |
| Decommissioned | June 2016 |
| Identification |
|
| Nickname(s) | Floating Swiss Army Knife |
| Fate | Sold for scrap |
| Status | Undergoing scrapping |
| General characteristics | |
| Displacement | 10,595 tonnes (10,428 long tons)[1] |
| Length | 112 m (367 ft 5 in)[1] |
| Beam | 20.5 m (67 ft 3 in)[1] |
| Draught | 6.8 m (22 ft 4 in)[1] |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)[1] |
| Troops | up to 55 personnel[1] |
| Complement | 54 RFA[1] and up to 147 RN[1] |
| Sensors and processing systems | Kelvin Hughes Ltd SharpEye navigation radar[2] |
| Armament |
|
| Aviation facilities | Helicopter deck up to CH-47 Chinook size[1] |
RFA Diligence was a forward repair ship of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. Launched in 1981 as a support ship for North Sea oil rigs, she was chartered by the British government to support naval activities during the 1982 Falklands War and was later bought outright as a fleet maintenance vessel.[1] She gave assistance to the damaged USS Tripoli and Princeton in the 1991 Gulf War, and to Sri Lanka after the 2005 tsunami.[1] She typically had deployments of 5-8 years in support of the Trafalgar-class submarine on duty east of Suez, with a secondary role as a mothership for British and US minesweepers in the Persian Gulf.[1] Until 2016 Diligence was set to go out of service in 2020.[3] However in August 2016, the UK Ministry of Defence placed an advert for the sale of RFA Diligence.[4] As of 2016 the option for the delivery of future operational maintenance and repair capability for the RFA remained under consideration.[5] However, the 2021 British defence white paper made no specific mention of the need for this capability. In April 2024 she arrived in Turkey for recycling.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r "Practical Makes Perfect". Navy News. January 2014. p. 12. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014. Retrieved 30 January 2014.
- ^ "New navigation radar system for Royal Navy".
- ^ https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/484506/2015-10463_FOI_Request.pdf [bare URL PDF]
- ^ "Notice of sale: former RFA Diligence a forward repair ship". UK Ministry of Defence. 5 August 2016.
- ^ "UK loses operational maintenance and repair capability as Diligence is retired early". IHS Janes. 11 August 2016.