She was built by Swan Hunter in 1969 at Hebburn, England as RFA Blue Rover (A270) of the Rover-class and from 1970 to 1993 was part of the British Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

[3] The keel of Blue Rover was laid at Swan Hunter's Hebburn yard on the River Tyne, England, on 30 December 1968, she was launched on 11 November 1969.

[4] One of Blue Rover's early major deployments came in February 1971 when she supported the Royal Yacht, HMY Britannia in the Pacific Ocean.

[4] May 1973 saw Blue Rover deployed in support of Royal Navy units off Iceland during the Second Cod War until June, and then again during September and October.

HMY Britannia towed Blue Rover to Tahiti, the largest island of the Windward group, enabling temporary repairs prior to returning to the UK.

[5] On 16 April 1982 Blue Rover departed HMNB Portsmouth for the South Atlantic as an aviation fuel tanker during Operation Corporate.

She joined with the Tide-class replenishment oiler RFA Tidespring and the Leaf-class replenishment oiler RFA Appleleaf and this group was escorted by the County-class destroyer HMS Antrim and the Rothesay-class frigate HMS Plymouth on 4 May, before heading for the island of South Georgia, around 1,400 kilometres (870 mi) east of the Falkland Islands, to act as the Station Tanker.

[5] On 17 August 1984 RFA Blue Rover received her Falklands Islands 1982 Battle honour by Mr A. Kemp Director Ships and Fuel (DST (SF)).