Sprite-class tanker

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Class overview
Name	Sprite class
Builders	Blythswood Shipbuilding Company Ltd
Operators	Royal Fleet Auxiliary
Preceded by	Dale class
Succeeded by	Ranger class
Built	1940–1943
In commission	1941–1964
Completed	2
Retired	2
General characteristics
Type	Spirits tanker
Tonnage	965 GRT
Length	204 ft 6 in (62.33 m)
Beam	33 ft 3 in (10.13 m)
Draught	12 ft 9 in (3.89 m)
Propulsion	Triple-expansion engines, 900 ihp (670 kW)
Speed	11 knots (13 mph; 20 km/h)

The Sprite class were a class of spirit tankers that served with the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, supporting the Royal Navy during the Second World War. They went on to support British and allied fleet units during the Cold War.

Two ships were eventually built by the Blythswood Shipbuilding Company Ltd, Airsprite and Nasprite. They entered service in the during the Second World War and were used to carry aviation fuel and petroleum.^[1] Both survived the war, serving mainly in British waters and the Mediterranean Sea, and continued in service until being retired in the early 1960s and scrapped soon afterwards.^[2]

• List of replenishment ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary

• Colledge, J.J. Ships of the Royal Navy: An Historical Index Volume 2: Navy-built Trawlers, Drifters, Tugs and Requisitioned Ships. Newton Abbot: David & Charles.
• Jane's Fighting Ships of World War II. New York: Crescent Books. 1989.