R.F.A. Argus
A.135
1988
(Albatros ALK-314)
- Class: Argus - 1 Aviation Training Ship of 1984
- Displacement: 28,030 tons
- Dimensions: 574.5 x 99.75 x 26.5 ft.
- Machinery: 2 Lindholmen-Pielstick 18 PC2.5 V diesels, two shafts, bow thruster = 18 knots
- Guns: 2-20mm Oerlikon
- Aircraft: 5 spots for Sea Kings, Chinooks, Merlins, Lynx, or Sea Harriers
- Complement: 80 RFA + 35 RN + 137 RN Air Squadron
- Builder: Cantiero Navale, Breda, Italy, 1981
- Acquired: Feb 1984
- Commissioned: 1 Jun 1988
- Notes: Aviation training ship with a secondary role of primary casualty receiving ship. Built as the container ship MV Contender Bezant, requisitioned in 1982 for the Falklands War, and purchased outright in 1984. Converted at Harland and Wolff, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Deployed to the Persian Gulf in 1991 supporting Desert Storm, to the Adriatic in 1993 and 1999 supporting operations in Bosnia and Kosovo, and back to the Persian Gulf in 2003.
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