The Round Table class, also known as the ''Sir Lancelot'' class, was a British
ship class designed for amphibious warfare missions in support of the main
amphibious warfare ships. They were designated
landing ship logistics (LSL). The class was almost certainly so named on account of the phonetic similarity between the abbreviation LSL and Lance-'S'-Lot.
All ships were named after
Knights of the Round Table
The Knights of the Round Table ( cy, Marchogion y Ford Gron, kw, Marghekyon an Moos Krenn, br, Marc'hegien an Daol Grenn) are the knights of the fellowship of King Arthur in the literary cycle of the Matter of Britain. First appearing in lit ...
.
Class history
In December 1961, the
Ministry of Transport ordered the first in a new class of 6,000-ton military supply vessels from
Fairfield Shipbuilding and Engineering Company of
Govan. The class was designed to replace the World War II-era
Mark 8 Landing Craft Tank
The Mark 8 Landing Craft Tank (also referred to as the LCT (8) or LCT Mark VIII) were landing craft tank ships operated by the British Armed Forces. The vessels were based on an American design, but improved into ocean-going vessels capable of sai ...
vessels in service.
The first ship, , was launched in June 1963.
In March 1963, two more vessels were ordered, with and launched by
Alexander Stephen and Sons of
Linthouse in April 1966 and January 1967. The final three ships were ordered in April 1965; and were launched by
Hawthorn Leslie and Company of
Hebburn in July and December 1966, followed by from
Swan Hunter of
Wallsend in October 1967.
At , ''Sir Lancelot'' was slightly larger than her successors, and was powered by two 12-cylinder
Sulzer diesel engines, while the others were and had two 10-cylinder Mirrlees Monarch engines.
The ships had both bow and stern doors leading onto the main vehicle deck, making them
roll-on/roll-off, combined with ramps that led to upper and lower vehicle decks. Thanks to their shallow
draught, they could beach themselves and use the bow doors for speedy unloading of troops and equipment. The ships also had
helicopter decks on both the upper vehicle deck and behind the superstructure.
The ships were operated and managed by the
British India Steam Navigation Company
British India Steam Navigation Company ("BI") was formed in 1856 as the Calcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company.
History
The ''Calcutta and Burmah Steam Navigation Company'' had been formed out of Mackinnon, Mackenzie & Co, a trading partn ...
for the
Royal Army Service Corps
The Royal Army Service Corps (RASC) was a corps of the British Army responsible for land, coastal and lake transport, air despatch, barracks administration, the Army Fire Service, staffing headquarters' units, supply of food, water, fuel and dom ...
until January 1970, then were transferred to the
Royal Fleet Auxiliary. One vessel, , was lost during the
Falklands War
The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...
, while another, , was badly damaged. The former was replaced by a new,
vessel of the same name, while the latter was rebuilt and returned to service. All of the vessels in this class were replaced by the , with the last to leave service in 2008.
, formerly operated by the
Royal Australian Navy, was based on the Round Table design.
Ships
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Round Table-class landing ship logistics
Amphibious warfare vessel classes
Ship classes of the Royal Navy