RFA Fort Langley (A230)

RFA Fort Langley (A230) was a stores ship of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

History
Name: RFA Fort Langley
Builder: Victoria MD
Launched: 31 October 1944, as Montebello Park
Commissioned: 18 May 1945, as Fort Langley
Decommissioned: February 1970
Stricken: 1970
Fate: Sold for scrapping, 1970
General characteristics
Tonnage:
Length: 441 ft 6 in (134.57 m)
Beam: 57 ft 2 in (17.42 m)
Draught: 27 ft (8.2 m)
Propulsion:
  • 1 × 3-cylinder triple expansion steam engine, 2,500 ihp (1,864 kW)
  • 1 shaft
Speed: 11 knots (20 km/h; 13 mph)
Range: 11,400 nmi (21,100 km) at 10 kn (19 km/h; 12 mph)
Complement: 115
Armament:
  • World War II :
  • 1 × 4 in (100 mm) gun
  • 8 × 20 mm AA guns

The ship was launched on October 1944 as SS Montebello Park as merchant steamship constructed for Canada’s Merchant Navy in 1944 during the Second World War as part of Canada's Park ship program. She was built by Victoria MD in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.[1] On 18 May 1945 she was commissioned as Fort Langley. Transferred to the RFA in May 1954, she was decommissioned in February 1970, and laid up at Devonport. Fort Langley arrived at Bilbao for scrapping on 21 July 1970. Fort and Park ship were the Canadian equivalent of the American Liberty ships. All three shared a similar design by J.L. Thompson and Sons of Sunderland, England. Fort ships had a triple expansion steam engine and a single screw propellor. [2][3] During World War II, 28 were lost to enemy action, and four were lost due to accidents. Many of the surviving 166 ships passed to the United States Maritime Commission. The last recorded scrapping was in 1985,[4][5][6] and two ships, the former Fort St. James and Fort St. Paul, were listed on Lloyd's Register until 1992.[5]

See also

References
  1. Not to be taken as the Montebello Park completed on 31/01/45 by West Coast Shipbuilders and scrapped in Spain in 1966
  2. "'FORT', 'OCEAN' & 'PARK' TYPE SHIPS". Mariners. Retrieved 12 August 2014.
  3. "The Forts". Angela DeRoy-Jones. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  4. "FORT SHIPS A - J". Mariners. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  5. "FORT SHIPS K - S". Mariners. Retrieved 12 August 2012.
  6. "FORT SHIPS T - Y". Mariners. Retrieved 12 August 2012.


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