RFA Tideflow
ship built in 1956
RFA Tideflow (A97) was a Tide-class replenishment oiler of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA), the naval auxiliary fleet of the United Kingdom. She entered service with the RFA in 1956. She was originally named Tiderace, but was later renamed Tideflow in 1958 to avoid confusion with other members of the class. She was taken out of service in 1976 and scrapped.
Design and construction
Tideflow had a normal complement of 100 Royal Fleet Auxiliary personnel. Her design incorporated the latest abeam rigs with automatic tension winches and included an astern fuelling rig. The ship was able to carry 8,500 tons of Furnace Fuel Oil, 4,600 tons of diesel oil and 1,900 tons of avcat.
The construction of Tideflow was carried out in the north east of England by J.L. Thompson and Sons. She was laid down on 30 August 1953 and was launched the following year, on 30 August 1954. She displaced fully loaded, 26,000 tons, was just over 583 ft in overall length and was capable of 17 knots.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “RFA Tideflow” is ship built in 1956. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Tideflow, ship and built, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “ship built in 1956” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 3, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7276547. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1956, 1958, 1976 and 1953.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “RFA Tideflow”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow RFA Tideflow primary sources, RFA Tideflow archive and Tideflow research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “RFA Tideflow”?
- What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “RFA Tideflow” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.