RFA Broomdale (A168) was a Dale-class fleet tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. She spent much of her career in the Indian Ocean and Far East.
Construction and design
The ship was ordered from the British Tanker Company of London from Harland & Wolff and was laid down on 29 December 1936 with Yard number 975. She was one of six tankers purchased during construction by the British Government to allow replacement of worn out ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary. She was launched as Broomdale on 2 September 1937, and was completed on 3 November 1937, entering service the same day. The ship had a complement of 40. Towards the end of 1940 she was moved to operations in the South Atlantic based at Port Stanley.
In April 1942 she was assigned to the British Eastern Fleet at Ceylon. She took part in Operation Stab and spent the next three years fuelling and escorting convoys across the Indian Ocean. On 14 April 1944 she sustained minor damage from the explosion of the ammunition ship , and then in August was accidentally torpedoed by the submarine , rupturing two tanks and killing one.