[1] The acquisition was approved by the Defence Committee and the Cabinet of Australia in August 1951, with the order placed by the end of the year.

[1] The ship, which was to be named RAFA Tide Austral,[1] was laid down by Harland & Wolff Limited at Belfast in Northern Ireland on 5 August 1952, and launched on 1 September 1954.

The tanker was operated by the British Admiralty with a civilian crew as a Royal Fleet Auxiliary under the name Tide Austral from 1955 to 1962.

She was renamed HMAS Supply on 7 September 1962 in a ceremony presided over by the wife of Rear Admiral Otto Becher, the Australian Naval Representative in the United Kingdom.

[5] The Squadron, which included HMA Ships Melbourne, Perth, Derwent, Stalwart, and Otama spent two months in the Indian Ocean as part of a flag-showing cruise;[5] the largest RAN deployment since World War II.