RFA Northmark

History
Germany
Class and type: Dithmarschen
Name: Nordmark
Builder: Schichau-Werke, Danzig
Laid down: 14 November 1936
Launched: 5 October 1937 as Westerwald
Commissioned: 6 January 1939 as Nordmark
Fate: Captured, May 1945
United Kingdom
Name: Northmark
Acquired: May 1945
Commissioned: July 1947, as HMS Bulawayo
Decommissioned: October 1950
Fate: Scrapped, 4 October 1955
General characteristics
Displacement: 22,500 long tons (22,861 t) full load
Length: 584 ft (178 m)
Beam: 72 ft 6 in (22 m)
Draught: 30 ft 3 in (9 m)
Propulsion:
  • Steam turbine with double reduction gearing, 21,590 shp (16,100 kW)
  • 2 shafts
Speed: 21 knots (39 km/h; 24 mph)
Complement:
  • 133 (German)
  • 292 (British)

Nordmark (later Northmark) was a former Kriegsmarine (German navy) combination oiler and supply vessel which was allocated to the Royal Navy by the Inter-Allied Repatriations Commission when British forces entered Copenhagen on 9 May 1945.

She arrived at Rosyth on 8 August 1945 and the following month went to Hebburn-on-Tyne for survey and repairs and conversion for service with the British Pacific Fleet, but the war ended and she was placed in reserve instead. She was renamed Northmark in January 1946 and was considered as a Royal Fleet Auxiliary-manned oiler, but the cost of modifications was considered to be unjustifiable and a follow-up proposal was taken up after approval was given to operate her as a naval ship. She therefore never served as an RFA, but was refitted for service in 1947 and on completion was renamed HMS Bulawayo in July 1947. She served as such until she was scrapped in 1955.

See also

References


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 7/3/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.