MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands' veteran vessel for sale on internet

A former Royal Navy support ship that made history in the Falkland Islands conflict has been put up for sale on the Ministry of Defence's equivalent of eBay.

The Royal Fleet Auxiliary Sir Percivale was the first British ship to sail into Port Stanley after the Argentine surrender in the 1982 conflict. It was also last to leave Hong Kong when the colony was handed to China in 1997. It has been placed on the website of the MoD's Disposal Services Agency and is "available for viewing at the Southampton office".

Sir Percivale appears in an online "warehouse" and includes uniforms, dental supplies, light aircraft and a £150 guardsman's bearskin, all being sold by the cash-strapped armed forces.

The 5,674-tonne RFA vessel - officially a Landing Ship Logistic or LSL - has seen service across the world, serving with NATO and UN forces as well as British. She entered service with the RFA in 1970, and was stationed in the Pacific Ocean for a number of years.

She was designed to support amphibious operations by landing troops, tanks, vehicles and other heavy equipment in port or directly on to a suitable shore. To achieve this, Sir Percivale has a number of special features, including doors in the bows and stern for rapid loading and unloading, and a shallow draught which enables her to be beached - she is thus part roll-on, roll-off ferry and part landing craft.

Routine work for Sir Percivale and her four sister ships would be freighting Army equipment overseas, normally Germany-bound vehicles through her home base of Marchwood military port and Antwerp.

But she has also played an important role in the major flashpoints involving British maritime forces in recent years, including the Falklands War. In 1982 Sir Percivale was one of the first ships to sail for the South Atlantic, and was in the forefront of the amphibious assault on San Carlos. She was also the first ship to enter Stanley harbour after the Argentinian surrender.

Unlike its sister ships Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram, which were hit by Argentine bombs with the loss of 51 lives, Sir Percivale survived unscathed.

Captain Tony Pitt, its skipper in the Falklands, said: "It is sad these ships have to go. One gets very attached to them, but they all go in the end."

During the Gulf War the ship was deployed on various duties, remaining in theatre for the duration of the conflict. She has also deployed on a number of occasions to the Adriatic in support of British forces operating in the former Yugoslavia. In 1997 Sir Percivale was in Hong Kong for the official handover of the colony to China on June 30.

Indeed, when the Royal Yacht and HMS Chatham sailed, Sir Percivale took up station at the rear of the line, and was therefore the last grey ship to leave Hong Kong. She had been berthed at Stonecutters Island, on the Kowloon side, for almost a month, acting as a logistics base for the last British forces in the territory, accommodating the Royal Navy ceremonial guard, the Royal Marine Band and acting as base for the flight of Sea King helicopters from 846 Naval Air Squadron.

Her 1997 visit coincided with 15th anniversary of the loss of the RFA Sir Galahad and the bombing of RFA Sir Tristram during the Falklands War. Both ships had Chinese crew members at the time, and at a special ceremony Sir Percivale's commanding officer, Capt P. Roberts - who commanded Sir Galahad when she was attacked - laid a wreath in memory of those who died in the war.

It survived unscathed, unlike its sister ships Sir Galahad and Sir Tristram, which were hit by Argentine bombs with the loss of 51 lives. Sir Percivale was retired last year. Captain Tony Pitt, its skipper in the Falklands, said: "It is sad these ships have to go. One gets very attached to them, but they all go in the end."

The MoD said there was no danger of Sir Percivale posing a threat to Britain, adding: "This isn't a warship. It is no more harmful than your typical cross-Channel ferry".