View source for RFA Diligence (A132)

{{Short description|Forward repair ship of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2015}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2015}}
{{More footnotes|date=December 2011}}
{|{{Infobox ship begin
}}
{{Infobox ship image
| Ship image = [[File:RFA Diligence During a Counter Piracy Boarding Exercise MOD 45153208.jpg|300px|RFA ''Diligence'' acting as a target ship during a boarding exercise in 2011]]
| Ship caption = RFA ''Diligence'' acting as a target ship during a boarding exercise in 2011
}}
{{Infobox ship career
| Hide header = 
| Ship country = United Kingdom
| Ship flag = {{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval-RFA}}
| Ship name = RFA ''Diligence''
| Ship namesake = 
| Ship ordered = 
| Ship builder = [[Öresundsvarvet AB]], [[Landskrona]], Sweden<ref name=NN201401 />
| Ship laid down = 
| Ship launched = January 1981<ref name=NN201401>{{cite news | url=http://content.yudu.com/Library/A2ol3p/201401NavyNewsJan14/resources/index.htm | title=Practical Makes Perfect | page=12 | newspaper=Navy News | date=January 2014 | access-date=30 January 2014 | archive-date=1 February 2014 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140201232113/http://content.yudu.com/Library/A2ol3p/201401NavyNewsJan14/resources/index.htm | url-status=dead }}</ref>
| Ship acquired = October 1983<ref name=NN201401 />
| Ship commissioned = 12 March 1984<ref name=NN201401 />
| Ship decommissioned = June 2016
| Ship in service = 
| Ship out of service = 
| Ship struck = 
| Ship reinstated = 
| Ship honours = 
| Ship identification = *{{IMO Number|7814448}}
*{{MMSI Number|234084000}}
*[[Maritime call sign|Callsign]]: GCPC
*[[Pennant number]]: A132
| Ship nickname = Floating Swiss Army Knife
| Ship fate = Sold for scrap
| Ship status = Undergoing scrapping
| Ship notes = 
}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
| Hide header = 
| Header caption = 
| Ship class = 
| Ship displacement = {{Convert|10595|t|LT|0|lk=on}}<ref name=NN201401 />
| Ship length = {{Convert|112|m|ftin|abbr=on}}<ref name=NN201401 />
| Ship beam = {{Convert|20.5|m|ftin|abbr=on}}<ref name=NN201401 />
| Ship draught = {{Convert|6.8|m|ftin|abbr=on}}<ref name=NN201401 />
| Ship propulsion = * [[Diesel-electric]] drive<ref name=NN201401 />
* 5 × [[NOHAB]]-[[British Polar Engines|Polar]] diesel generators
* 4 × [[Norsk Elektrisk & Brown Boveri|NEBB]] motors
* 1 × propeller
* 2 × 360-degree [[azimuth thruster]]s
* 2 × Kamewa [[bow thruster]]s
| Ship speed = {{Convert|10|kn|lk=in}}<ref name=NN201401 />
| Ship range = 
| Ship complement = 54 RFA<ref name=NN201401 /> and up to 147 RN<ref name=NN201401 />
| Ship troops = up to 55 personnel<ref name=NN201401 />
| Ship sensors = *Kelvin Hughes Ltd SharpEye navigation radar<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gov.uk/government/news/new-navigation-radar-system-for-royal-navy|title = New navigation radar system for Royal Navy}}</ref>
| Ship EW = 
| Ship armament = *2 × [[Oerlikon 20 mm cannon]]<ref name=NN201401 />
*4 × 7.62 mm machine guns
*4 × Mk44 [[minigun]]s
| Ship armour = 
| Ship aircraft = 
| Ship aircraft facilities = [[Helicopter deck]] up to [[Boeing Chinook (UK variants)|CH-47 Chinook]] size<ref name=NN201401 />
| Ship notes = 
}}
|}
'''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.<ref name="NN201401" /> She gave assistance to the damaged {{USS|Tripoli|LPH-10|6}} and {{USS|Princeton|CG-59|2}} in the 1991 Gulf War, and to Sri Lanka after the 2005 tsunami.<ref name="NN201401" /> 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.<ref name="NN201401" /> Until 2016 Diligence was set to go out of service in 2020.<ref>https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/484506/2015-10463_FOI_Request.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}</ref> However in August 2016, the UK Ministry of Defence placed an advert for the sale of RFA Diligence.<ref name=Sale>{{cite news | url=https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/notice-of-sale-former-rfa-diligence-a-forward-repair-ship | title=Notice of sale: former RFA Diligence a forward repair ship | newspaper=UK Ministry of Defence | date=5 August 2016}}</ref> As of 2016 the option for the delivery of future operational maintenance and repair capability for the RFA remained under consideration.<ref name=Consideration>{{cite news | url=http://www.janes.com/article/62912/uk-loses-operational-maintenance-and-repair-capability-as-diligence-is-retired-early | title=UK loses operational maintenance and repair capability as Diligence is retired early | newspaper=IHS Janes | date=11 August 2016}}</ref> However, the [[Defence in a Competitive Age|2021 British defence white paper]] made no specific mention of the need for this capability. In April 2024 she arrived in Turkey for recycling.

==Facilities==
''Diligence'' was designed to provide forward repair and maintenance facilities to ships and submarines operating away from their home ports, so in addition to a variety of workshops she could also provide overside electrical supplies, fuel, water and sullage reception. ''Diligence'' provided a large workshop facility for Royal Navy vessels, she was equipped with specialist machinery such as [[arc welding]] equipment, [[lathes]], pillar drills, [[Grinding machine|grinders]], band saws and a large store of spares.

''Diligence'' was the Royal Navy's primary battle damage repair unit, and was on short notice to react to developing situations worldwide. One of the key features of the ship's design was the dynamic positioning system which could keep the vessel static in poor conditions, using the ship's range of thrusters and the variable-pitch propeller.

The ship had a helicopter deck on the roof of her bridge that was large enough to support a [[CH-47 Chinook]]. The hull was built to the highest ice class specification, which allowed her to navigate polar regions without the assistance of an icebreaker.

==Launch and the Falklands War==
''Diligence'' was built by [[Öresundsvarvet]] in  [[Landskrona]], [[Sweden]] and launched in 1981 as a civilian oil rig support ship. She first served the [[Royal Fleet Auxiliary]] (RFA) immediately after the [[Falklands War]] as a civilian owned ship taken up from the trade (''[[STUFT]]''). As MV ''Stena Inspector'', the ship repaired many British vessels. ''Stena Inspector'' was purchased by the Government in 1983 for £25 million from [[Stena Line|Stena Offshore UK]] and renamed ''Diligence''. She was sailed to the Clyde Dock Engineering facility, where she was converted and military features added, including a large workshop for hull and machinery repairs, supply facilities, accommodation, armaments and magazines and communications fits.
Her Sister Ship, ''Stena Seaspread '' had previously been a STUFT ship during the Falklands War.

==Later history==
''Diligence'' provided damage repair work many times during her lifetime. At the end of the [[Iran–Iraq War]], the [[Straits of Hormuz]] were mined, and ''Diligence'' supported the multinational minesweeping operation to clear that vital chokepoint. ''Diligence'' also helped to repair {{HMS|Southampton|D90|6}} after collision damage. The ship returned to the Persian Gulf in 1990 to support operations during the [[Gulf War]] by repairing, among others, two American ships damaged by mines.

In 1995, according to British reports, ''Diligence'' was confronted and illuminated by the radar of the Argentine corvette {{ship|ARA|Granville|P-33|6}}, which was harassing shipping near the Falklands.<ref>[https://www.google.com/search?q=%22Argentine+corvette+Granville+(armed+with+exocet+missiles)+harasses+7+fishing+vessels+in+Falklands+waters%2C+and+illuminates+the+RFA+Diligence+with+its+radar%3B%22&oq=%22Argentine+corvette+Granville+(armed+with+exocet+missiles)+harasses+7+fishing+vessels+in+Falklands+waters%2C+and+illuminates+the+RFA+Diligence+with+its+radar%3B%22&aqs=chrome..69i57.6203j0j15&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8 Falkland Islands Information Portal – Time Line], by Jason Lewis. 28 November 2006</ref>

[[File:HMS Ambush Alongside RFA Diligence MOD 45155418.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Photograph of Diligence alongside a submarine|{{HMS|Ambush|S120|6}} sits alongside ''Diligence'' in [[Gare Loch]], [[HMNB Clyde]], Scotland.]]
During Operation Ocean Wave 97, ''Diligence'' deployed to the Far East as a submarine support ship. The following year, the ship supported 3rd Mine Counter-Measures Squadron in the Persian Gulf. Following just two weeks in the UK, ''Diligence'' departed for the south Atlantic, returning to [[Faslane]] in December 1998. Early 1999 saw the ship again deployed to the Falklands region.

2001 saw a large exercise in Oman, and ''Diligence'' supported the four [[mine countermeasure vessel|MCMV]]s involved. The ship's next wartime assignment came with the large [[taskforce]] deployed against Iraq in 2003. Returning to familiar territory, ''Diligence'' supported the largest British fleet deployed since the [[Falklands War]].

When the ship returned to UK in November 2006 she had the longest deployment of an RFA in recent times. From her departure from [[Portsmouth]] it was 5 and half years before she returned home to Portsmouth. In that time she has visited 25 different countries whilst steaming some {{convert|150000|mi|km|-3}}, through the Mediterranean to the Persian Gulf, across the Indian Ocean to India, Sri Lanka and Singapore, the South China Sea to the Philippines and from South Africa across the Atlantic to the Falklands and South America. Many of these Oceans and countries visited 2 or 3 times.

All this work took its toll on the 25-year-old ship, and the ship was given a £16 million overhaul during 2007 at Northwestern Shiprepairers and Shipbuilders in [[Birkenhead]]. Her accommodation areas, [[galley (kitchen)|galley]] and [[engine room]] were all upgraded, with the intention of extending the ship's service life until the middle of the next decade. The overhaul was completed in December 2007.

A £17.6m refit was carried out from June 2012 to February 2013<ref name=HL1595>{{cite web | url=http://www.parliament.uk/business/publications/written-questions-answers-statements/written-question/Lords/2016-09-06/HL1595 | title=RFA Diligence:Written question - HL1595 | publisher=UK Parliament | date= 14 September 2016 |access-date=2016-09-19}}</ref> ahead of a deployment to the Mediterranean and Gulf region in support of the COUGAR 13 task group.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/news-and-latest-activity/news/2013/august/09/130809-cougar-13 | title=Royal Navy sails for annual 'Cougar' deployment | publisher=Royal Navy | date=9 August 2013|access-date=2016-09-19}}</ref> An £11m refit followed from September 2014 to February 2015,<ref name=HL1595 /> after which she was laid up at the Cammell Laird shipyard in [[Birkenhead]].

===Disposal===
In June 2016 the Royal Navy decided to retire the ship immediately instead of in 2020 as had previously been planned as a cost-saving measure. A Royal Navy spokesman told [[IHS Jane's]] that ''Diligence'' was considered to be "an aged singleton ship with increasing obsolescence issues", and that it was no longer cost-effective to maintain her in service.<ref name="Janes UK loses operational maintenance">{{cite news|last1=Scott|first1=Richard|title=UK loses operational maintenance and repair capability as Diligence is retired early|url=http://www.janes.com/article/62912/uk-loses-operational-maintenance-and-repair-capability-as-diligence-is-retired-early|access-date=22 August 2016|work=IHS Jane's Navy International|date=12 August 2016}}</ref> As of 2016, no replacement for the ship had been identified<ref>{{cite news|last1=Farmer|first1=Ben|title=Navy to lose 'invaluable' only repair ship in cost-cutting|url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/08/20/navy-to-lose-invaluable-only-repair-ship-in-cost-cutting/|access-date=22 August 2016|work=The Telegraph|date=20 August 2016}}</ref> and the 2021 British defence white paper made no mention of the need for any such capability.

In March 2017, ''Diligence'' was towed from Birkenhead to Portsmouth where she awaited a potential buyer. In April 2023, it was revealed that the ship was to be scrapped after no suitable buyers materialised,<ref>{{cite web |last=Thomas |first=Richard |url=https://www.naval-technology.com/news/what-fate-awaits-uk-wave-class-fast-fleet-tankers/?cf-view&cf-closed |title=What fate awaits UK Wave-class fast fleet tankers? |website=naval-technology.com |date=17 May 2023 |access-date=6 January 2024 |quote=...the former fleet repair vessel RFA Diligence was taken off the market after the UK was unable to find a buyer. It will now be scrapped.}}</ref> and in March 2024 she departed the UK for the final time, under tow to a scrapyard in Turkey.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Buncle |first1=Joe |title=Royal Navy: Falklands repair ship RFA Diligence which was Portsmouth fixture is sent to Turkey for recycling |url=https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/defence/royal-navy-falklands-repair-ship-rfa-diligence-which-was-portsmouth-fixture-is-sent-to-turkey-for-recycling-4607169 |access-date=28 April 2024 |work=The News |date=26 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240427131502/https://www.portsmouth.co.uk/news/defence/royal-navy-falklands-repair-ship-rfa-diligence-which-was-portsmouth-fixture-is-sent-to-turkey-for-recycling-4607169 |archive-date=27 April 2024 |location=Portsmouth}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category}}
*[http://www.royalnavy.mod.uk/server/show/nav.5417 RFA Diligence on the official Royal Navy website]
*[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5wdMMuePUg RFA Diligence A132 Videoed From MV Pont Aven Plymouth 9 April 2010]

{{Falklands War British ships}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Diligence}}
[[Category:1981 ships]]
[[Category:Ships built in Landskrona]]
[[Category:Ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary]]
[[Category:Falklands War naval ships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Gulf War ships of the United Kingdom]]