RFA Broomdale
Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English
Template:Infobox ship imageTemplate:Infobox ship careerTemplate:Infobox ship characteristicsRFA Broomdale (A168) was a Dale-class fleet tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. She spent much of her career in the Indian Ocean and Far East.
Construction and design
The ship was ordered from the British Tanker Company of London from Harland & Wolff and was laid down on 29 December 1936 with Yard number 975. She was one of six tankers purchased during construction by the British Government to allow replacement of worn out ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.<ref name="histrfa"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She was launched as Broomdale on 2 September 1937,<ref name="jfs53p77">Template:Harvnb</ref> and was completed on 3 November 1937, entering service the same day.<ref name="histrfa"/>
Broomdale was Template:Convert long overall and Template:Convert between perpendiculars, with a beam of Template:Convert and a draught of Template:Convert. She was powered by Doxford diesel engines rated at Template:Convert, giving a speed of Template:Convert.<ref name="jfs53p77"/> Broomdale displaced Template:Convert, with a deadweight tonnage of Template:Convert.<ref name="jfs53p77"/> The ship had a Gross register tonnage of 8334 tons and a Net register tonnage of 4967 tons.<ref name="lloyds38">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The ship had a complement of 40.<ref name="jfs53p77"/>
Service
While undergoing sea trials at Glasgow on 4 February 1938, Broomdale was involved in a collision with the New Zealand Shipping Company's cargo passenger ship Template:SS. Broomdale underwent repairs at Greenock.<ref name="histrfa"/> She spent the first year of the war operating between bases in Scotland and Norway, on 16 May 1940 she was attacked by four dive bombers and suffered minor damage from two near misses.<ref name="histrfa">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Towards the end of 1940 she was moved to operations in the South Atlantic based at Port Stanley.
In April 1942 she was assigned to the British Eastern Fleet at Ceylon. She took part in Operation Stab and spent the next three years fuelling and escorting convoys across the Indian Ocean. On 14 April 1944 she sustained minor damage from the explosion of the ammunition ship Template:SS, and then in August was accidentally torpedoed by the submarine Template:HMS, rupturing two tanks and killing one.<ref name="histrfa"/>
After a brief trip back to the UK and the end of hostilities she was sent to the Far East, visiting Shanghai, Tokyo, Yokohama and Hong Kong.
She was refitted in 1947 and continued service across the world until sold in November 1959 and broken up two months later.