The ex RFA Bayleaf was towed out of Portsmouth on 2 August by the Spanish-registered tug Veintiseis (434gt) bound for Aliaga in Turkey to be scrapped. The Leaf class support tanker was one of four ships ordered from Cammell Laird at Birkenhead in 1973, and laid down in 1975 as Hudson Sound. She was finally launched on 27 October 1981 and, when completed on 25 March 1982, she was then bareboat chartered to the MoD and renamed Bayleaf, being purchased outright by the MoD in 2001. She saw active service in the Falklands War and both the First and Second Gulf Wars. After the 2010 Strategic Defence Review it was decided that Bayleaf would be paid off in April 2011.
