| Career (UK) | |
|---|---|
| Name: | RFA Resource |
| Ordered: | 24 January 1963 |
| Laid down: | 19 June 1964 |
| Launched: | 11 February 1966 |
| Commissioned: | 6 June 1967 |
| Decommissioned: | 1 May 1997 |
| Renamed: | Resourceful in 1997 |
| Struck: | 1997 |
| Identification: | Pennant number: A480 |
| Fate: | Scrapped at Alang in 1997 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | Regent-class armament stores ship |
| Displacement: | 22,890 tons full load |
| Length: | 640 ft 1 in (195.10 m) |
| Beam: | 77 ft 1.25 in (23.50 m) |
| Draught: | 26 ft 3 in (8.00 m) |
| Propulsion: | 2 x AEI steam turbines DR geared to a single shaft 2 x watertube boilers. |
| Speed: | 20 knots (37 km/h) |
| Complement: |
|
| Aircraft carried: | |
| Aviation facilities: | Landing platform capable of landing several different classes of helicopter |
RFA Resource was an armament stores ship of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.
Contents |
RFA Resource served in the Falklands War. The ship was captained at that time by Captain Bruce Seymour.
RFA Resource was one of the first vessels on the scene to pick up survivors from HMS Sheffield (having just supplied her).
Resource was one of several RFA replenishment ships certified to store and supply the fleet with nuclear weapons. After the end of the Falklands conflict, WE.177A live nuclear weapons from HMS Hermes, HMS Invincible, HMS Broadsword and HMS Brilliant were transferred to RFA Resource and Fort Austin for transport back to the UK.[1] Inert practice weapons and surveillance weapons (without fissionable material) were also transported.[2]
One of Resource's last duties before being decommissioned was to serve as a floating munitions storage for UN and IFOR troops in the former Yugoslavia. She spent much of the mid 1990s in Split, Croatia, fulfilling this role.
Resource sailed from Devonport on 24 June 1997, having been renamed Resourceful for the delivery run to the Indian breakers, and arrived at Alang for scrapping on 20 August 1997.