RFA Sea Salvor (A503)

RFA Sea Salvor (A503) was a salvage vessel of the post-war Royal Fleet Auxiliary. She also served as a support ship for Mine Counter Measures vessels.

History
Name: Sea Salvor
Operator: Risdon Beazley[1]
Ordered: 25 December 1941
Builder: Goole Shipbuilding & Repair Co Ltd, Goole
Yard number: 391
Laid down: 9 August 1942
Launched: 22 April 1943
Commissioned: February 1944
Decommissioned: April 1971
Fate: Arrived Thos W Ward Grays, Essex for scrapping, 18 January 1973
General characteristics
Class and type: King Salvor class salvage vessel
Displacement: 1,780 long tons (1,809 t) full load
Length: 218 ft (66 m)
Beam: 39 ft 10 in (12.14 m)
Draught: 15 ft 7 in (4.75 m)
Propulsion: 2 × 3-cylinder triple expansion steam engines
Speed: 12 knots (22 km/h; 14 mph)
Complement: Between 52 and 72
Armament: 4 × 20 mm AA guns (4×1)

Built by the Goole Shipbuilding & Repair Co. Ltd., Goole, the ship was launched on 22 April 1943, and commissioned in February 1944. Decommissioned in April 1971, the ship was laid up at Devonport, and arrived at Grays, Essex for scrapping on 18 January 1973.

Service history

She spent February to May 1954 recovering the wreckage of the British Overseas Airways Corporation's de Havilland Comet G-ALYP "Yoke Peter" which crashed on 10 January 1954 after taking off from Rome, Italy. Sea Salvor deployed for service during "Operation Musketeer" - the Suez Crisis - in December 1956.

In January 1968 Sea Salvor, together with the minesweepers Ashton, Crofton, Stubbington and Walkerton took part in relief efforts following the 1968 Belice earthquake that struck Sicily on 14/15 January.[2]

Crew

Diver John Richard Cresdee, who died on 30 October 1957 is buried at Kalkara Naval Cemetery, Malta. His name was actually Jack Richard Cresdee, but his headstone bears the name John, because of a mistake caused by his brother-in-law. He was born in Gosport, Hampshire, on 8 July 1920 to Harold Cresdee and Martha Hamlet. He died in an explosion whilst surveying the wreck of the submarine HMS P36 in Lazaretto Creek, Malta, when a build-up of gases in the submarines fuel tanks were ignited by the flame of his underwater cutting gear. His body was recovered the next day by Royal Navy clearance diver LtCdr George Wookey.

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References
  1. Coastal Class salvage vessel on trials, the HELP?
  2. "Minesweeper crews' aid to earthquake victims". Navy News. February 1962. p. 22. Retrieved 29 October 2018.


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