HMS Wakeful (A236)

HMS Wakeful was a support vessel of the Royal Navy from 1974 to 1987. She was built as an ocean-going tug by Cochrane & Sons, in Selby in 1965, and first served as a Swedish civilian tug under the name Heracles, or a variant thereof.[2]

For other ships with the same name, see HMS Wakeful.

History
Sweden
Name:	Heracles
Namesake:	Heracles
Builder:	Cochrane & Sons, Selby, North Yorkshire[1]
Launched:	1965 [2]
Fate:	Sold
Notes:	Used as a tug
United Kingdom
Name:	Dan
Fate:	Sold in 1974 for £6,000[2]
Notes:	Used as a tug
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Wakeful
Commissioned:	April 1974
Decommissioned:	30 October 1987
Identification:	pennant number A236
Fate:	Sold to Hellenic Salvage Tugboats
Notes:	Used as a submarine target ship in the Clyde
Greece
Name:	Aegean Pelago
Owner:	Hellenic Salvage Tugboats
Acquired:	June 1988
Identification:	IMO number: 6518140 MMSI number: 239223000 Callsign: SWSU
General characteristics
Displacement:	Full:900 t (886 long tons)[1] Standard:492 t (484 long tons)[1]
Length:	38.9 m (127 ft 7 in)[2]
Beam:	10.7 m (35 ft 1 in)[2]
Draught:	4.7 m (15 ft 5 in)[2]
Propulsion:	2 x 9-cylinder Ruston diesels, producing 4,750 hp (3,540 kW)[1]
Speed:	Approximately 14 knots (26 km/h; 16 mph)[2]
Complement:	18[1]

The ship acted as part of the Fishery Protection Squadron in the North Sea for several years, but was eventually replaced when enough Island-class patrol vessels were available.[2] After a £1.6 million refit at Chatham in 1976, she was assigned to HMS Neptune as a submarine tender, target ship and tug.[1][2]

She was replaced by HMS Sentinel, and decommissioned on 30 October 1987. She was sold to the Greek firm Hellenic Salvage Tugboats in June 1988, having sailed from Portsmouth for Greece the previous month, on 6 May 1988.[2]

References

1. Jane's Fighting Ships 1983-84. p. 602. ISBN 0-7106-0774-1.
2. Olver, Jeremy (17 February 2001). "HMS Wakeful - Submarine Support Vessel". Royal Navy Postwar. Archived from the original on 25 December 2007. Retrieved 5 July 2011.