Name RFA Engadine Builder Henry Robb Ltd, Leith Commissioned 15 December 1967 Launched 16 September 1966 Displacement 8.119 million kg | Ordered 18 August 1964 Laid down 9 August 1965 Construction started 9 August 1965 Length 129 m Beam 18 m | |
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Decommissioned March 1989. Laid up at Devonport. | ||
RFA Engadine (K08) was a helicopter support ship of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. The need for Engadine was seen in the mid-1960s as more and more helicopters were deployed from Royal Navy aircraft carriers and surface combatants. The ship was ordered in August 1964, from Henry Robb of Leith, and commissioned in December 1967, replacing HMS Lofoten. She was named after the Engadin valley in south-east Switzerland, which is represented by the alphorns and edelweiss on her badge.
Engadine's homeport throughout her career was Portland, Dorset. The most notable events in those 25 years were the 1976 crisis in Lebanon, where she was deployed as part of contingency planning to evacuate British citizens, the Silver Jubilee fleet review in 1977 when she followed HMY Britannia and the Falklands War in which she was a helicopter support and refuelling ship in San Carlos Water. By the mid-1980s Engadine was becoming obsolescent so the container ship MV Contender Bezant was bought for conversion, becoming RFA Argus. Engadine was decommissioned in 1989 and sold to new owners in Greece who intended to use her in civilian merchant service. This came to nothing, and so she was broken up in Alang, Gujarat, India in 1996.