RFA Oakleaf (2) and her demise
RFA Oakleaf (2) was the fifth ship of the third ‘Leaf’ Class of replenishment tankers and entered the Service in 1986; like the other ships of the class she had been in commercial service before being originally bare boat chartered by the Ministry of Defence from James Fisher & Sons and converted for RFA use. The Ministry of Defence finally purchased her in 2004. Visually she was very different to the other four ships of her class and they were not sister ships
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RFA Oakleaf (2) at Cape Town, South Africa
Oakleaf’s service took her to many ports and seas around the world supporting the Royal Navy and her crew were called upon to provide humanitarian assistance to other peoples both ashore and afloat on numerous occasions.
By June 2007 her RFA service ended when she berthed at
On 29 September 2010 she sailed for the last time from
Oakleaf (2) arrived at the Leyal Ship Recycling yard at
RFA Oakleaf (2) was the fifth ship of the Third ‘Leaf’ Class of replenishment tankers and entered the Service in 1986; like her sisters she had been in commercial service before being bought by the Ministry of Defence and converted for RFA use. Visually she was very different to the other four ships of her class.
RFA Oakleaf (2) at Cape Town, South Africa
Oakleaf’s service took her to many ports and seas around the world supporting the Royal Navy and her crew were called upon to provide humanitarian assistance to other peoples both ashore and afloat on numerous occasions.
By June 2007 her RFA service ended when she berthed at
On 29 September 2010 she sailed for the last time from
Oakleaf (2) arrived at the Leyal Ship Recycling yard at
The ship breakers teams didn’t take long to start cutting the ship up and the following images show the results of their efforts
Above images © Ministry of Defence – used with the consent of the DSA
Oakleaf was completely recycled by January 2011, just 4 months after arriving at Leyal’s Ship Recycling yard; she was fully dismantled with just 2% going to landfill and over 97% of the vessel being recycled and recovered. 9,003 tonnes of ferrous and non ferrous metal was recycled, 126 tonnes was re-used or recovered for sale while only 200.3 tonnes of asbestos or other regular waste was sent to landfill.