RFA ''Wave Chief'' was a Wave-class fleet support tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary that was built in 1946 as SS ''Empire Edgehil'' by Harland & Wolff, Govan, Glasgow, United Kingdom. She saw service during the Korean War, earning a battle star. ''Wave Chief'' also served in the

First Cod War The Cod Wars ( is, Þorskastríðin; also known as , ; german: Kabeljaukriege) were a series of 20th-century confrontations between the United Kingdom (with aid from West Germany) and Iceland about fishing rights in the North Atlantic. Each o ...

and

Second Cod War The Cod Wars ( is, Þorskastríðin; also known as , ; german: Kabeljaukriege) were a series of 20th-century confrontations between the United Kingdom (with aid from West Germany) and Iceland about fishing rights in the North Atlantic. Each o ...

against Iceland. She was extensively modified in the early 1960s and escorted Sir Alec Rose around Cape Horn, South America in April 1968. She was decommissioned and laid up at Rosyth,

Fife Fife (, ; gd, Fìobha, ; sco, Fife) is a council area, historic county, registration county and lieutenancy area of Scotland. It is situated between the Firth of Tay and the Firth of Forth, with inland boundaries with Perth and Kinross (i ...

, in August 1974, and arrived at Inverkeithing, Fife, for scrapping on 13 November 1974.

Description

The ship was built by Harland & Wolff, Govan, Glasgow. She was yard number 1306. The ship was long, with a beam of . She had a draught of . She was assessed at . The ship was propelled by two

steam turbine A steam turbine is a machine that extracts thermal energy from pressurized steam and uses it to do mechanical work on a rotating output shaft. Its modern manifestation was invented by Charles Parsons in 1884. Fabrication of a modern steam turbin ...

s, double reduction geared, driving a single screw propeller . The turbines were made by

Metrovick Metropolitan-Vickers, Metrovick, or Metrovicks, was a British heavy electrical engineering company of the early-to-mid 20th century formerly known as British Westinghouse. Highly diversified, it was particularly well known for its industrial el ...

, Manchester, Lancashire. They could propel her at .

History

''Empire Edgehill'' was launched on 4 April 1946. On 27 July 1946, she was transferred to the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong * Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral * Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings *Admiralty, Tr ...

and three days later she was completed as ''Wave Chief'', allocated the United Kingdom

Official Number Official numbers are ship identifier numbers assigned to merchant ships by their flag state, country of registration. Each country developed its own official numbering system, some on a national and some on a port-by-port basis, and the formats hav ...

180935 and the

pennant number In the Royal Navy and other navies of Europe and the Commonwealth of Nations, ships are identified by pennant number (an internationalisation of ''pendant number'', which it was called before 1948). Historically, naval ships flew a flag that iden ...

X119. ''Wave Chief'' was initially chartered out before she was taken over by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. She was operating in the Mediterranean in 1947, when one of her firemen was discharged dead at Suez, Egypt. In 1949, she loaded a cargo at Abadan, Iran and delivered it to

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, Australia. On 25 June 1950, ''Wave Chief'' joined the United States Seventh Fleet for naval operations. On 18 November 1951, ''Wave Chief'' was refuelling off the coast of Korea when there was an accident which resulted in a large spill of fuel and damage to her rig. On 27 July 1953, ''Wave Chief'' was awarded a battle honour for her service during the Korean War. During December 1956 and January 1957, ''Wave Chief'' accompanied during the

Duke of Edinburgh's The Duke of Edinburgh's Award (commonly abbreviated DofE) is a youth awards programme founded in the United Kingdom in 1956 by Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, that has since expanded to 144 nations. The awards recognise adolescents and young ...

tour of the southern oceans. From 1957, she took part in Operation Grapple X, the British

hydrogen bomb A thermonuclear weapon, fusion weapon or hydrogen bomb (H bomb) is a second-generation nuclear weapon design. Its greater sophistication affords it vastly greater destructive power than first-generation nuclear bombs, a more compact size, a lowe ...

tests at Christmas Island. On 13 November 1957, she ran aground at Batu Puteh, Singapore, holing all but four of her eighteen tanks. From November 1958, ''Wave Chief'' was deployed supporting Royal Navy ships in operations off Iceland in the

. These deployments continued until February 1961. In 1961, ''Wave Chief'' came to the assistance of the '' Haisboro Light Vessel'' which was sinking off the Norfolk coast after being in collision with another ship. From September to December 1965, ''Wave Chief'' accompanied , , and on a goodwill tour of South America. The squadron, under the command of Vice-Admiral Sir Fitzroy Talbot, visited ports in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Peru and Venezuela. On 12 December 1967, ''Wave Chief'' was severely damaged in a storm in the Mediterranean. Repairs were carried out at

Gibraltar ) , anthem = " God Save the King" , song = " Gibraltar Anthem" , image_map = Gibraltar location in Europe.svg , map_alt = Location of Gibraltar in Europe , map_caption = United Kingdom shown in pale green , mapsize = , image_map2 = Gib ...

. On 25 April 1968, ''Wave Chief'' departed from Punta Arenas, Chile to rendezvous with the yacht '' Lively Lady'', which was being sailed single-handedly around the world by Alec Rose. She escorted ''Lively Lady'' around Cape Horn, South America on 1 April. From 15–17 March 1973, ''Wave Chief'' assisted Icelandic Coast Guard, Royal Air Force and Royal Navy units in the unsuccessful search for survivors from the trawler ''Sjoestjaman''. From May to August 1973, ''Wave Chief'' operated in support of Royal Navy units involved in the

. She was decommissioned in August 1974 and laid up at Rosyth, Dunbartonshire. In September she was listed for disposal. ''Wave Chief'' was purchased for £208,825 to Thos. W. Ward. She arrived at Inverkeithing,

on 13 November 1974 for scrapping, which took place in 1975.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wave Chief 1946 ships Ships built in Govan Empire ships Wave-class oilers Tankers of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Maritime incidents in 1961 Ships built by Harland and Wolff