HMAS Supply (AO 195) was a of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) and the Royal Australian Navy (RAN). Originally named Tide Austral and intended to be the first ship of a post-World War II Royal Australian Fleet Auxiliary, manpower and financial shortages meant that when the Belfast-built ship was launched in 1955, she could not be accepted into Australian service. Instead, she was loaned to the RFA, operating RFA Tide Austral (A99). In August 1962, the ship was commissioned directly into the RAN, then renamed a month later to HMAS Supply. Supply operated as part of the RAN until her decommissioning at the end of 1985.
Design, construction, and acquisition
In the early 1950s, the RAN considered acquiring a fleet tanker to support their forces. It was suggested that Australia order a from the United Kingdom (the Royal Navy having ordered three ships of the design), as the backlog of Navy construction in Australian dockyards would prevent an Australian-built tanker from entering service until at least the late 1950s. On 27 December 1974, Supply sailed from Sydney as part of Operation Navy Help Darwin; a 13-ship relief force sent to Darwin following Cyclone Tracy. In 1975, Supply was present for the proclamation of Papua New Guinea's independence from Australia, and later for the bicentennial of the United States of America's independence from Britain. The Squadron, which included HMA Ships , , , , and spent two months in the Indian Ocean as part of a flag-showing cruise;