Wave-class oiler

RFA Wave Conqueror, pictured in 1952
Class overview
Name	Wave class
Builders	Furness Shipbuilding Company, Haverton Hill-on-Tees Harland and Wolff, Govan Sir J. Laing & Sons Ltd, Sunderland
Operators	Ministry of War Transport Royal Fleet Auxiliary
Preceded by	Ranger class
Succeeded by	Surf class
Built	1943–1946
In commission	1944–1974
Completed	20
General characteristics
Type	Replenishment oiler
Displacement	16,476 long tons (16,740 t) to 16,483 long tons (16,748 t)
Length	465 ft (142 m) (p/p) 492 ft (150 m) (o/a)
Beam	64 ft 4 in (19.61 m)
Draught	28 ft 6 in (8.69 m)
Propulsion	Parsons double reduction geared turbines 3 drum type boilers
Speed	15 knots (17 mph; 28 km/h)
Capacity	11,900 long tons (12,091 t)

The Wave class was a class of twenty replenishment oilers built for service supporting the Royal Navy (RN) during the later years of the Second World War. They were subsequently transferred to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA), the naval auxiliary fleet of the United Kingdom, after the end of the war, and went on to support British and allied fleet units in Cold War conflicts such as the Korean War.

The expanding needs of the Royal Navy to carry out long range operations away from friendly fueling and replenishment stations led to the ordering of a number of tankers of around 16,500 long tons (16,765 t) displacement, able to carry 11,900 long tons (12,091 t) of fuel oil.^[1] These would allow the Royal Navy and its allies increased flexibility, particularly in the Pacific theatre, where there were large expanses of water and few friendly fuel stations. A total of twenty ships were eventually built by three British yards; 12 by the Furness Shipbuilding Company, Haverton Hill-on-Tees, three by Harland and Wolff at their yard in Govan, and the remaining five by Sir J. Laing & Sons Ltd, at Sunderland.^[1][2]

Thirteen of the 20 of the ships were initially built for the Ministry of War Transport (MoWT), which assigned them to be operated by various merchant shipping lines. Consequently, most were named with the standard MoWT prefix "Empire".^[2] The remaining MoWT owned oilers were transferred to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in 1946 and all were given "Wave" names.^[1][2] Several of the RFA ships served in the Far East during the Second World War, while the class was heavily involved in the Korean War. RFAs Wave Sovereign, Wave Baron, Wave Premier, Wave Prince, Wave Chief, Wave Knight, Wave Regent, Wave Laird and Wave Conqueror all served there in support of allied fleet units and task forces.^[3]

The class began to be retired from the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in the late 1950s, with Wave Commander and Wave Liberator the first to be sold for scrapping in 1959.^[2] Most of the remaining vessels had been scrapped by the mid-1960s, but refits and modifications allowed several to continue in service until the mid-1970s, with Wave Chief the last to be retired, in 1974.

• List of replenishment ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary

• Colledge, J.J. Ships of the Royal Navy: An Historical Index Volume 2: Navy-built Trawlers, Drifters, Tugs and Requisitioned Ships. Newton Abbot: David & Charles.
• Rottman, Gordon L (2002). Korean War Order of Battle: United States, United Nations, and Communist Ground, Naval, and Air Forces, 1950-1953. Greenwood Publishing Group. ISBN 0-275-97835-4.
• Jane's Fighting Ships of World War II. New York: Crescent Books. 1989.

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