The ship in this photo is the HEBE (A406), which served as a Royal Fleet Auxiliary supply ship from 1962 to 1978. Constructed for the British India Steam Navigation Co. Ltd for a long-term charter to the Admiralty, the HEBE and her sister ship BACCHUS were launched from the Leith Yard of Henry Robb Ltd. in 1962 and manned by Royal Fleet Auxiliary crews.
In January 1964 the HEBE was instrumental in the rescue of British citizens when a violent revolution broke out in Zanzibar.
As a result of a serious fire at Gibraltar in November 1978, the badly damaged HEBE was handed back by the MOD to the P&O group which BI had been incorporated into. Rebuilt by foreign owners and renamed GOOD GUARDIAN, the ship was broken up in 1986 at Cyprus.
Reference:
B.I. - The British India Steam Navigation Co. Ltd.
Comments
Royal Fleet Auxiliary HEBE (406)
The ship in this photo is the HEBE (A406), which served as a Royal Fleet Auxiliary supply ship from 1962 to 1978. Constructed for the British India Steam Navigation Co. Ltd for a long-term charter to the Admiralty, the HEBE and her sister ship BACCHUS were launched from the Leith Yard of Henry Robb Ltd. in 1962 and manned by Royal Fleet Auxiliary crews.
In January 1964 the HEBE was instrumental in the rescue of British citizens when a violent revolution broke out in Zanzibar.
As a result of a serious fire at Gibraltar in November 1978, the badly damaged HEBE was handed back by the MOD to the P&O group which BI had been incorporated into. Rebuilt by foreign owners and renamed GOOD GUARDIAN, the ship was broken up in 1986 at Cyprus.
Reference:
B.I. - The British India Steam Navigation Co. Ltd.
W.A. Laxon & F.W. Perry
World Ship Society ISBN 0 905617 65 7
Regards degahkg
The photo was taken in early…
The photo was taken in early 1978 - certainly at or just before April 1978 as that was when HEBE (A406) sailed from Hong Kong for the last time. The ship was in the UK in December 1977.
A comparison photo of the early phase of construction of the Prince of Wales Building in 1978