RFA Cherryleaf - Support Tanker (AOS)

Ordered and completed in 1960 as the Overseas Adventurer, she transferred to the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in March 1973 and was renamed Cherryleaf.

Powered by a 6 Cylinder Droxford Diesel engine Cherryleaf had a speed of 13 knots. She measured 554ft in length, 72ft in breadth and 30ft in draught and displaced 18,560 tons.

Rod Harrison remembers Cherryleaf "Plumleaf was indeed imaculate but the same could not be said for Cherryleaf. I joined a few months after MOD(N) had taken her over (as "Overseas Adventurer") on bare boat charter. She was basically a tired flag of convenience rust bucket but we did the best we could. The ChOff ordered up paint of every different hue and Officers and Crew scrubbed and painted their quarters in everything from bland to psychodelic. She had a seven cylinder MAN engine of which six were working at any one time for a max speed of about 9 knots. On the way back home from our second freighting run from the Gulf, we were diverted to Malta to refuel HMS Hermes so that she could rescue civillians in Cyprus following the Turkish invasion. This caused us to miss by 5 days our anticipated full fiscal year away from the UK and the refunding of our taxes. By then, most of the grey paint had gone showing the cream and rust underneath and COMMED sent us a nasty signal telling us to remove ourselves from his nice clean harbour. Morale wasn't the greatest. We did RAS off Capetown and in the Indian Ocean. We used the stern method."

Ship	Pennant Number	Builder	Laid Down	Launched	Commissioned
Cherryleaf	A82	Rheinstahl, Nordseewerke

RFA Cherryleaf (A82)

Above: RFA Cherryleaf (A82). Thanks to George Mortimore for providing this picture.

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