Almirante Montt and Almirante Williams

History
United Kingdom

Name: RFA Tidepool
Ordered: 28 February 1961
Laid down: 14 December 1961
Launched: 11 December 1962
Commissioned: 28 June 1963
Decommissioned: 13 August 1982
Fate: Sold to Chile, 1982
Chile

Name: Almirante Jorge Montt
Namesake: Jorge Montt

Commissioned: 13 August 1982
Decommissioned: 15 December 1997
General characteristics
Class and type: Tide-class replenishment oiler

Displacement: 27,400 long tons (27,840 t)
Length: 583 ft 8 in (177.90 m)
Beam: 71 ft 3 in (21.72 m)
Draught: 32 ft 1 in (9.78 m)
Propulsion: ? 2 ? Parmetrada steam turbines
? 2 ? Foster Wheeler watertube steam boilers
? Double reduction gearbox, single shaft
Speed: 17 knots (20 mph; 31 km/h)

Complement: 90 (RFA)
Aircraft carried: Three Westland Wessex helicopters

Service record
Operations: ? Cod War
? Beira Patrol
? Falklands War


Tidepool had a long and busy life in the fleet. The ship participated in both the Cod Wars and the Beira Patrol during the 1970s. In 1982 when the Falklands War broke out Tidepool was actually on its way to Chile to be disposed of. The ship was temporarily reclaimed by the United Kingdom and was finally handed over to the Chilean Navy on 13 August 1982 and renamed Almirante Jorge Montt.