HMAS Supply

HMAS Supply being towed along the Brisbane river in late 1967
History
Australia
Name:	Tide Austral
Ordered:	Late 1951
Builder:	Harland and Wolff
Cost:	£A3.13 million
Laid down:	5 August 1952
Launched:	1 September 1954
Completed:	1955
Fate:	Loaned to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary on completion
United Kingdom
Name:	Tide Austral
Acquired:	March 1955
Commissioned:	28 May 1955
Fate:	Returned to Australia in 1962
Australia
Name:	Tide Austral
Acquired:	15 August 1962
Commissioned:	15 August 1962
Decommissioned:	16 December 1985
Renamed:	HMAS Supply, 7 September 1962
General characteristics
Class and type:	Tide-class replenishment oiler
Displacement:	26,000 long tons (26,417 t) Full Load
Length:	583 feet (178 m)
Beam:	71 feet (22 m)
Draught:	32 feet (9.8 m)
Propulsion:	3 × Babcock & Wilcox boilers
Speed:	17 knots (31 km/h; 20 mph)
Complement:	90 (RFA)

HMAS Supply (AO 195) was a Tide-class replenishment oiler of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) and the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Originally named Tide Austral and intended to be the first ship of a post-World War II Royal Australian Fleet Auxiliary, manpower and financial shortages meant that when the Belfast-built ship was launched in 1955, she could not be accepted into Australian service. Instead, she was loaned to the RFA, operating RFA Tide Austral (A99). In August 1962, the ship was commissioned directly into the RAN, then renamed a month later to HMAS Supply. Supply operated as part of the RAN until her decommissioning at the end of 1985.

In the early 1950s, the RAN considered acquiring a fleet tanker to support their forces. It was suggested that Australia order a Tide-class replenishment oiler from the United Kingdom (the Royal Navy having ordered three ships of the design), as the backlog of Navy construction in Australian dockyards would prevent an Australian-built tanker from entering service until at least the late 1950s. The tanker was to be the first ship of a post-war Royal Australian Fleet Auxiliary, would be manned by merchant seafarers to reduce demand on RAN service personnel, and would reduce the RAN's dependency on foreign fuel suppliers. The acquisition was approved by the Defence Committee and the Cabinet of Australia in August 1951, with the order placed by the end of the year.

The ship, which was to be named RAFA Tide Austral, was laid down by Harland and Wolff Limited at Belfast in Northern Ireland on 5 August 1952, and launched on 1 September 1954. The tanker was completed at the start of 1955, at a cost of £A3.13 million: 20% over the forecast price. However, financial difficulties and a manpower shortage meant that the RAN could not operate the ship, and efforts to find a merchant operator were unsuccessful. Efforts to sell the ship to another navy or a civilian operator also failed, but in March 1955, the British Admiralty offered to take Tide Austral on loan and operate her as part of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.