RFA ships have been involved in naval operations, humanitarian and life saving actions in both peace and war since the Service’s formation in 1905.

Details of the operations or actions where RFA’s were involved are listed below.

This list is far from complete and as further research identifies additional operations, humanitarian and life saving actions these will be added with as much back ground details as can be ascertained: -

1919 – Operation Red Trek

The British Campaign in the Baltic 1918-19 was a part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. The intervention played a key role in enabling the establishment of the independent states of Estonia and Latvia but failed to secure the control of Petrograd by Russian White forces, one of the main goals of the campaign

The Russian Baltic Fleet was the key naval force available to the Bolsheviks and essential to the protection of Petrograd. The fleet was severely depleted after the First World War and Russian revolution but still formed a significant force. At least 1 Gangut class battleship, pre-Dreadnoughts, cruisers, destroyers and submarines were available. Many of the officer corps were on the White Russian side in the Civil War or had been murdered but some competent leaders remained.

A Royal Navy squadron was sent under Rear-Admiral Edwyn Alexander-Sinclair CB., MVO. This force consisted of modern C class cruisers and V and W class destroyers. In December 1918, Sinclair sallied into Estonian and Latvian ports, sending in troops and supplies, and promising to attack the Bolsheviks "as far as my guns can reach". In January 1919 he was succeeded in command by Rear-Admiral Walter Cowan CB., DSO., MVO

RN ships lost in the Baltic include:

Light cruiser HMS Cassandra – mined in an uncharted German minefield.

V class destroyers:

HMS Verulam - mined.
HMS Vittoria - torpedoed by the Bolshevik submarine Pantera off the island of Seiskari in the Gulf of Finland

Submarine L55 – in a surface action against Bolshevik destroyers on 9 June 1919. She was raised on 11 August 1928 and her crew are buried in Haslar Naval Cemetery, Gosport

Arabis class sloops:

HMS Gentian and HMS Myrtle - mined.

Coastal Motor Boats:

CMB-24, CMB-62 and CMB-79 - surface action against Bolshevik Fleet.
CMB-67 - stranded.

The 112 deaths of British servicemen (107 RN personnel and 5 RAF personnel) are commemorated on a memorial plaque, which was unveiled in 2005 at Portsmouth Cathedral, Hampshire, with similar memorials in churches in Tallinn and Riga.

RFA’s present supporting the Royal Navy were: -

RFA Bacchus [1]

RFA Slavol

RFA Prestol

RFA Belgol – as a replacement for RFA Prestol when she was damaged in a collision with the ss. Susquehanna at Danzig on 29 November 1920 and had to return to Rosyth

The 1923 Great Kanto earthquake struck the Kanto plain on the Japanese main island of Honshu at 11:58:44 am JST on September 1, 1923. Varied accounts hold that the duration of the earthquake was between 4 and 10 minutes.

The quake had a magnitude of 8.3 on the Richter scale, with its focus deep beneath Izu ?shima Island in Sagami Bay. It devastated Tokyo, the port city of Yokohama, surrounding prefectures of Chiba, Kanagawa, and Shizuoka, and caused widespread damage throughout the Kanto region. The power and intensity of the earthquake is easy to underestimate, but the 1923 earthquake managed to move the 93-ton Great Buddha statue at Kamakura. The statue slid forward almost two feet.

Casualty estimates range from about 100,000 to 142,000 deaths, the latter figure including approximately 40,000 who went missing and were presumed dead. According to the Japanese construction company Kajima Kobori Research's report of September 2005, there were 105,000 confirmed deaths in the 1923 quake.

Many countries sent assistance and Royal Naval ships from the China Station were quickly on the scene giving humanitarian aid.

RFA Nucula was sent to be the Station oiler for the Royal Naval ships for 6 months.

RFA Nucula

On 22 April 1928 19:59 UTC, at 38 N, 23.5 E, depth 29 km, with a magnitude of 5.25, Aegean Sea, near the eastern shore of Greece. A catastrophic earthquake preceded by a strong shock an hour earlier, took place on the Isthmus of Corinth. 3,000 houses were destroyed and 20 people were killed in Corinth and Loutraki (not a single building remained intact in the latter). 15,000 inhabitants were left homeless.

According to data of the international Red Cross, the material damage was estimated at between 300 to 600 million drachmae. The sea level rose suddenly in the port of Karistos in the south of the island of Euboea.

Later the same day at 20:13:46 UTC, at 38 N, 23 E a further earth quake struck the region with a magnitude of 6.3 and with further casualties.

The following RFA was dispatched to Corinth with humanitarian aid: -

RFA Perthshire

The Spanish Civil War was a major conflict that devastated Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939. It began after an attempted coup d'état against the government of the Second Spanish Republic, then under the leadership of president Manuel Azaña, by a group of Spanish Army generals. The nationalist insurgency was supported by the conservative Spanish Confederation of the Autonomous Right (Confederación Española de Derechas Autónomas, or C.E.D.A), Carlist groups, and the Fascistic Falange (Falange Española de las J.O.N.S.). The war ended with the victory of the rebel forces, the overthrow of the Republican government, and the founding of a dictatorship led by General Francisco Franco.

During the War submarines of the Fascist powers were attacking ships supplying the forces of the Spanish Government. By international agreement international naval patrols were established to enforce maritime law and prevent act of piracy.

The following RFA’s supported the international naval patrols –

RFA Cherryleaf (1) at Barcelona

RFA Brambleleaf (1) at Oran

RFA Plumleaf (1) at Gibraltar

RFA Montenol at La Rochelle

RFA Prestol at La Coruña

The following RFA was involved in the transportation of Spanish and international evacuees from various ports in Spain to France

RFA Maine (3)

The British campaign in Norway took place from April 1940 until early June 1940. It was in two main parts, in central Norway and around Narvik.

The British campaign was coincidentally commenced simultaneously with Nazi Germany's invasion of Denmark and Norway of April 6.

RFA War Pindari supported British naval forces involved in landings at Namos on 16 and 17 April 1940. She refuelled HMS Cario and her destroyers at Lillesjona. She was the target of bombing by German aircraft – they missed.

Operation Dervish was the first of the Arctic Convoys of World War II by which the Western Allies supplied material aid to the Soviet Union in its fight with Nazi Germany. The convoy originally sailed from Liverpool on 12 August 1941 and via Iceland arrived at Archangelsk on 31 August 1941. No ships were lost.

RFA Aldersdale was deployed in support of this operation.

Operation Anklet was a British Commando raid on 26 December 1941 on the Lofoten Islands.

The raid was conducted by 300 men of No.12 Commando to provide a diversion for the larger raid at Vågsøy Island, Operation Archery. The German garrison, amid Christmas celebrations, was easily overcome. The Commandos disembarked after two peaceful days.

HMS Arethusa and eight destroyers were supported by: -

RFA’s Black Ranger

RFA Gray Ranger

The invasion of Madagascar (or Operation Ironclad) was the Allied campaign to capture Vichy French-controlled Madagascar during World War II.

The Operation began on 5 May 1942.

The following RFA’s were involved with RN Units – both sailed from Durban in assault  Convoy ‘Y’ on 25 April 1942.

RFA Derwentdale

RFA Easedale

Operation STAB was a diversionary operation to suggest landing operations on the Andaman Islands in the Indian Ocean and involved, in part, three Dummy Convoys on passage from Vizagapatam, Madras and Trincomalee towards those islands.

Battleship HMS WARSPITE, HMS ILLUSTRIOUS, HMS FORMIDABLE, HMS EFFINGHAM HMS MAURITIUS and Dutch cruisers HEEMSKERK with destroyer escorts as Force A provided cover for the dummy convoys.

The dummy convoys sailed on 1 August 1942 and Force A was seen by Japanese aircraft.

The dummy convoy from Trincomalee consisted of two merchant ships and 2 RFA’s. They returned to Trincomalee by reversing course, as planned, at 1700Z the same day.

The two RFA ships involved in this Operation were

RFA Appleleaf (1)

RFA Broomdale

Operation Shingle (22 January 1944 – 1 February 1944), during the Italian Campaign of World War II, was an Allied amphibious landing against Axis forces in the area of  Anzio and Nettuno, Italy. The operation was commanded by Major General John P. Lucas and was intended to outflank German forces of the Winter Line and enable an attack on Rome. The resulting combat is commonly called the Battle of Anzio.

RFA’s present supporting naval units: -

RFA Empire Salvage

(There may have been others)

Operation Tungsten was one of a number of aerial attacks on the German battleship Tirpitz while she was in Norwegian waters (the Altenfjord) by the Fleet Air Arm (the air units of the Royal Navy).

Tungsten was scheduled for April 1944. Tirpitz was two weeks into trials after the end of repairs resulting from the British X-craft attacks in September 1943.

The attack was to be two waves of dive bombers (Fairey Barracudas) protected by naval fighters and led by the Strike Leader Lt Cdr Roy Baker-Falkner DSC Royal Navy. The first planes took off on the morning of 3 April. The bombers and their escorts headed for the target, others to patrol around the carriers in case of German attack.

The first wave attacked while some of the fighters strafed the decks of the Tirpitz to suppress anti-aircraft fire. The bombers of the first wave were carrying general purpose bombs, which would prove effective against the lightly armoured AA positions and their crews, alongside heavier armour-piercing bombs. An hour later the second wave attacked. Again fighters strafed the Tirpitz from low level. By 08:30 the attacking aircraft had landed on their carriers and the task force was turning for home.

British losses were 2 Barracudas shot down and 1 damaged Hellcat that was ditched deliberately. Nine airmen were killed.

The Tirpitz had suffered flooding caused by near misses but the machinery was untouched - none of the bombs had penetrated the deck armour. The radio aerials had been reduced, the anti-aircraft armament had been damaged, 122 men had been killed, and a further 316 wounded. Tirpitz would be out of action for at least another month. The armour-piercing bombs may have been less effective because they were dropped at lower heights than intended.

RFA’s present supporting naval units – both sailed from Scapa Flow on 30 March 1944: -

RFA Blue Ranger

RFA Brown Ranger

During World War II, Operation Dracula was the name given to an airborne and amphibious attack on Rangoon by British and Indian forces, part of the Burma Campaign.

Operation Dracula, had several advantages. The loss of Rangoon would be even more disastrous for the Japanese in 1945 than it had been for the British in 1942. Not only was it the principal seaport by which they received supplies and reinforcements, but it lay very close to their other lines of communication with Thailand and Malaya. An advance north or east from Rangoon of only 40 miles (64 km) to Pegu or across the Sittang River would cut the Burma Railway, their only viable overland link with their forces in these countries. If Rangoon fell, the Japanese would therefore be compelled to withdraw from almost all of Burma, abandoning much of their equipment.

Minesweepers cleared a passage up the river, and landing craft began coming ashore in the early hours of the morning of 2 May 1945, almost the last day on which beach landings were possible before the heavy swell caused by the monsoon became too bad.

The troops of Indian 26th Division began occupying the city without opposition the next day.

RFA Easedale, RFA Gold Ranger and RFA Olwen (1) were engaged in support of this operation

The Battle of the Malacca Strait, sometimes called the Sinking of the Haguro, and in Japanese sources as the Battle off Penang, was a naval battle that resulted from the British search and destroy operation in May, 1945, called Operation Dukedom, that resulted in the sinking of the Japanese cruiser Haguro. Haguro had been operating as a supply ship for Japanese garrisons in the Dutch East Indies and the Bay of Bengal since 1 May 1945.

On the 9 May, the Haguro left Singapore, escorted by the destroyer Kamikaze, to re-supply the Port Blair garrison on the Andaman Islands and to evacuate troops back to Singapore. The Royal Navy was alerted to this by a decrypted Japanese naval signal, subsequently confirmed by a sighting by the submarines HMS Statesman and Subtle. Force 61 of the Eastern Fleet set sail on 10 May from Trincomalee, Ceylon to intercept the Japanese flotilla.

Japanese Heavy Cruiser Haguro

On the 14 May, Haguro and Kamikaze tried again and left Singapore. Next day, they were spotted by aircraft from Force 61. The subsequent air attack caused only minor damage to Haguro, for the loss of an aircraft whose crew was taken prisoner by the Japanese.

Information was relayed to the Japanese that two British destroyer squadrons had been sighted heading towards them. Again, they reversed course to return to the Malacca Strait. This change had been anticipated, however, and the 26th Destroyer Flotilla (HMS Saumarez, Verulam, Venus, Vigilant, and Virago), commanded by Captain Manley Power (on the Saumarez) steamed to intercept. In heavy rain squalls with lightning, Venus made radar contact at 34 miles (54 kilometers). The British destroyers arranged themselves in a crescent cordon and allowed the Japanese ships to sail into the trap.

At 0105 Saumarez 4.7-inch (12-cm) guns opened fire at a range of 3 kilometers and hit Haguro with the second salvo. Saumarez turned sharply right to pass astern of Haguro and raked Kamikaze with Bofors 40 mm gun fire as the Japanese destroyer appeared off the port bow and swept by. Haguro returned six main battery salvos at Saumarez before being hit at 0115 by three torpedoes fired by Saumarez and Verulam. Venus hit Haguro with one torpedo at 0125 and Virago stopped Haguro with two more torpedo hits two minutes later. Haguro sank at 0209 after receiving another torpedo from Vigilant, two more from Venus, and nearly an hour of gunfire from the 26th flotilla.

Kamikaze was also damaged, but escaped, returning the next day to rescue survivors. About 320 survived but 900 died, including the Japanese commanders, Vice-Admiral Hashimoto and Rear-Admiral Sugiura.

RFA Eaglesdale and RFA Olwen (1) were engaged in support of this operation

In the aftermath of the Second World War no task fell to the Royal Navy more demanding than the interception of sea-borne illegal immigration into Palestine between 1945 – 1948.

Naval forces, mainly destroyers operated from Haifa in Palestine and the numbers of these ships allocated to the Patrol were sizeable.

RFA War Bharata

RFA War Bharata was deployed in support of these operations.

Warfare between North Korea (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) and South Korea (Republic of Korea) began on 25 June 1950 and paused with an armistice which was signed on 27 July 1953.

The war occurred in consequence of both countries aggressively attempting Korean national–peninsular reunification under their respective governments — because they occupied the immediate months before open warfare with escalating armed clashes at the 38th Parallel border, and the failed all-Korea elections. The negotiations ceased when North Korea invaded South Korea on 25 June 1950. The United States and UN Forces intervened for the South. After a rapid South Korean counter-attack reversing the initial North Korean invasion, the Chinese Army intervened for North Korea — deciding the war towards an armistice that approximately restored the original border between the Koreas. Since then, North Korea unilaterally withdrew from the armistice on 27 May 2009

The following RFA’s supported UN Forces during the Korean War

• Awarded Battle Honour

Other RFA’s contributed by supplying stores and oil to the RFA’s in theatre for replenishment of UN ships

The Suez Crisis was a military attack on Egypt by Britain, France and Israel commencing on 29 October 1956. The attack followed Egypt's decision of 26 July 1956 to nationalize the Suez Canal, after the withdrawal of an offer by Britain and the United States to fund the building of the Aswan Dam, this was in response to Egypt recognizing the People's Republic of China during the height of tensions between China and Taiwan.

The attack was code named ‘Operation Musketeer’

The following RFA’s were involved in this Operation.

Operation Grapple, and operations Grapple X, Grapple Y and Grapple Z, were the names of British nuclear tests of the hydrogen bomb. They were held 1956 - 1958 at Malden Island and Christmas Island in the central Pacific Ocean. Nine nuclear detonations took place during the trials, resulting in Britain becoming a thermonuclear power. All of the bombs were exploded in the air, rather than on the surface, to reduce the effects of fallout.

Untested and unproven thermonuclear designs being developed at Britain's nuclear weapons research establishment, the AWRE, required proof testing, so Grapple was conducted as a massive tri-service operation, the largest of its kind since World War II. Initial preparation for the operation, including establishing necessary infrastructure on Christmas Island, began at the end of May 1956. About 1,200 civilian and military personnel were stationed on Christmas Island during that year.

The following ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary were deployed to Christmas Island in support of these operations: -

* ship renamed RFA Reliant

This list may not be complete

The Cod Wars, which have also been called the Iceland Cod Wars, were a series of confrontations between 1958 and 1976 between the United Kingdom and Iceland over fishing rights around the coast of Iceland.

There were basically three confrontations which have become known as the 1^st Cod War, the 2^nd Cod War and the 3^rd Cod War and ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary were deployed in support of the Royal Navy in each.

Icelandic Coast Guard Ship Odin and HMS Scylla

Each confrontation involved the Icelandic Government’s decision to extend fishing limits over the seas round their country.

The 1^st Cod War

1 September 1958 to 11 March 1961

Iceland declared that its territorial limit had been extended to 12 miles from their coast line.

The following RFA’s were deployed to support the Royal Navy off the coast of Iceland during the 1^st Cod War:-

RFA Black Ranger

RFA Tidereach

RFA Wave Baron

RFA Wave Chief

RFA Wave Laird

RFA Wave Master

RFA Wave Prince

RFA Wave Ruler

RFA Wave Sovereign

RFA Wave Victor

Other ships of the RFA were deployed off Iceland in support of Royal Naval ships on dates outside of those determined as the Cod Wars.

INS Dakar (77-?) was a modified British T class submarine previously HMS Totem (P352) of the Royal Navy. Built at H.M. Dockyard, Devonport, she was launched on 28 September 1943 and served in the Royal Navy until she was purchased by Israel, along with two of her T-class sisters, in 1965. She was commissioned into the Israeli Navy on 10 November 1967 as Dakar (???), ("Swordfish" in Hebrew), under the command of Major Ya'acov Ra'anan.

Late in 1967, after two successful months of trials, Dakar returned to Portsmouth, and eventually sailed for Israel on 9 January 1968.

At 0610 on 24 January Dakar transmitted her position, 34.16°N 26.26°E, just east of Crete. Over the next 18 hours she transmitted three control transmissions, which did not include her position, the last at 0002 25 January1968. No further messages were received.

An international search and rescue operation began, including units from Israel, Great Britain, the United States, Greece, Turkey, and Lebanon.

However, INS Dakar was lost at sea and never reached Haifa. Despite extensive searches over the course of three decades, her wreckage was not found until 1999.

Between 27 to 31 January 1968 the following RFA was engaged in supporting other naval units and searching for the lost submarine: -

RFA Wave Baron

Operation Burlap - the 1970 Bhola cyclone was a devastating tropical cyclone that struck East Pakistan (later to become The Peoples Republic of Bangladesh) and the State of West Bengal, India on 12 November 1970. It was the deadliest tropical cyclone ever recorded, and one of the deadliest natural disasters in modern times. Up to 500,000 people lost their lives in the storm, primarily as a result of the storm surge that flooded much of the low-lying islands of the Ganges Delta. This cyclone was the sixth cyclonic storm of the 1970 North Indian Ocean cyclone season, and also the season's strongest, reaching a strength equivalent to a Category 3 hurricane.

The cyclone formed over the central Bay of Bengal on 8 November and travelled north, intensifying as it did so. It reached its peak with winds of 185 km/h (115 mph) on 12 November and made landfall on the coast of East Pakistan that night. The storm surge devastated many of the offshore islands, wiping out villages and destroying crops throughout the region. In the most severely affected Thana, Tazumuddin, over 45% of the population of 167,000 was killed by the storm.

The exact full death toll will never be known, but it is estimated that between 300,000 and 500,000 people lost their lives.

International aid was dispatched from many countries including ships of the Royal Navy and Royal Fleet Auxiliary Service.

The following ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary were deployed to the region in support of Royal Navy assisting in disaster relief: -

RFA Olwen (2)

RFA Resource

RFA Sir Galahad

RFA Stromness

The Cod Wars, which have also been called the Iceland Cod Wars, were a series of confrontations between 1958 and 1976 between the United Kingdom and Iceland over fishing rights around the coast of Iceland.

There were basically three confrontations which have become known as the 1^st Cod War, the 2^nd Cod War and the 3^rd Cod War and ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary were deployed in support of the Royal Navy in each.

Icelandic Coast Guard Ship Odin and HMS Scylla

Each confrontation involved the Icelandic Government’s decision to extend fishing limits over the seas round their country.

The 2^nd Cod War

1 September 1972 to 13 November 1973

The following RFA’s were deployed to support the Royal Navy off the coast of Iceland during the 2^nd Cod War:-

RFA Blue Rover

RFA Green Rover

RFA Grey Rover

RFA Olmeda

RFA Olna

RFA Olwen

RFA Orangeleaf

RFA Tidepool

RFA Wave Chief

Other ships of the RFA were deployed off Iceland in support of Royal Naval ships on dates outside of those determined as the Cod Wars.

The Cod Wars, which have also been called the Iceland Cod Wars, were a series of confrontations between 1958 and 1976 between the United Kingdom and Iceland over fishing rights around the coast of Iceland.

There were basically three confrontations which have become known as the 1^st Cod War, the 2^nd Cod War and the 3^rd Cod War and ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary were deployed in support of the Royal Navy in each.

Icelandic Coast Guard Ship Odin and HMS Scylla

Each confrontation involved the Icelandic Government’s decision to extend fishing limits over the seas round their country.

The 3^rd Cod War

25 November 1975 to 1 June 1976

The following RFA’s were deployed to support the Royal Navy off the coast of Iceland during the 3^rd Cod War:-

RFA Blue Rover

RFA Olwen

RFA Tidepool

RFA Tidereach

Other ships of the RFA were deployed off Iceland in support of Royal Naval ships on dates outside of those determined as the Cod Wars.

The Falklands War was fought in 1982 between Argentina and the United Kingdom over the former country’s occupation of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. The Falkland Islands consist of two large and many small islands in the South Atlantic Ocean east of Argentina; their name and sovereignty over them have long been disputed.

The Falklands War started on Friday, 2 April 1982 with the Argentine invasion and occupation of the Falkland Islands and South Georgia, and ended with the Argentine surrender on 14 June 1982. The war lasted 74 days, and resulted in the deaths of 255 British and 649 Argentine soldiers, sailors, and airmen, and three civilian Falkland Islanders.

Operation Corporate – the code name for the recovery of the Falkland Islands involved a considerable deployment of Royal Naval, Army and Royal Air Force assets and these were supported by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

Operation Paraquet - the code name for the British military operation to recapture the Island of South Georgia involved a smaller deployment of British Forces which were again supported by the Royal Fleet Auxiliary.

Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships deployed to the South Atlantic in support of Operations Corporate and Paraquet were: -

* RFA involved in supporting Operation Paraquet

The Invasion of Grenada, codenamed Operation Urgent Fury, was an invasion ordered by U.S. President Ronald Reagan of the nation of Grenada, an island in the Caribbean Sea, 100 miles north of Venezuela, and over 1,500 miles southeast of the United States.

After an internal power struggle on the island (which has a population of just over 100,000) ended with the deposition and execution of Grenadian Prime Minister Maurice Bishop, the invasion began on 25 October, 1983. A combined force of troops from the United States (nearly 10,000 troops), Jamaica and members of the Regional Security System (RSS) (approximately 300 troops)^] defeated Grenadian resistance and the military government of Hudson Austin was deposed.

Britain was against the invasion but sent HMS Antrim and RFA Pearleaf to protect British citizens.

Operation Grapple was the codename given to the deployment of British forces in Bosnia from 1992 as part of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR).

Between January 1993 and August 1993 RFA’s Olwen and Fort Grange were deployed in support of Royal Naval and other UN units with 820 NAS embarked.

RFA Argus was also deployed to theatre during 1993.

In July 1995, the island of Montserrat's Soufriere Hills volcano, dormant throughout recorded history, rumbled to life and began an eruption which eventually buried the island's capital, Plymouth, in more than 12 metres (39 ft) of mud, destroyed its airport and docking facilities, and rendered the southern half of the island uninhabitable. Following the destruction of Plymouth, more than half of the population left the island due to the economic disruption and lack of housing. After a period of regular eruptive events during the late 1990s, including one on 25 June 1997 in which 19 people died when they were overtaken by a pyroclastic flow, the volcano's activity in recent years has been confined mostly to infrequent ventings of ash into the uninhabited areas in the south. However, this ash venting does occasionally extend into the populated areas of the northern and western parts of the island.

Between May 1997 and August 1997 Operation Caxton was the voluntary evacuation arrangements rendered to the people of the island.

RFA Black Rover was involved in this operation.

The Kosovo Force (KFOR) is a NATO-led international force responsible for establishing a safe and secure environment in Kosovo, the self-proclaimed, independent and partially recognized landlocked country in the Balkans, which has been under United Nations Nations administration since 1999.

In support of British Forces the following Royal Fleet Auxiliaries were deployed to theatre or used to deliver stores and equipment

RFA Argus

RFA Fort Austin

RFA Bayleaf

RFA Sea Centurion

RFA Sea Crusader

Operation Barras was the name given to a hostage rescue operation by the Special Air Service, Special Boat Service, and Parachute Regiment in Sierra Leone on 10 September 2000. The men on the ground nicknamed the dangerous mission 'Operation Certain Death'. At 6:16 three Chinook and three Lynx helicopters took off from the Freetown airport and headed for Rokel Creek, upon the banks of which was located the West Side Boys' camp. On the northern bank was the village of Geberi Bana, where the remaining British soldiers were being kept. On the opposite bank were two more villages, Magberri and Forodugu, also occupied by the rebels. The Land Rovers used by the captured soldiers had been taken to Magbeni.

The attack on the rebel camps commenced at around 6:30 as the helicopters came in and disgorged troops almost simultaneously on both northern and southern target locations. In Geberi Bana, SAS observation teams, which had been inserted days before and had kept the rebels under surveillance ever since, began to engage them. The rescuers, SAS troopers, extracted the remaining six British soldiers and a Sierra Leonean Officer, within twenty minutes. They were flown out to the RFA Sir Percivale moored in Freetown harbour at about 7:00 that morning. In Magbeni, the Paratroopers engaged the awakened rebels. A second wave soon brought the Paras to full strength as they continued the assault. This attack diverted attention from the rescue mission on the opposite bank in Geberi Bana. Most of the action was over by 8:00, although the last British troops pulled out at 14:00 in the afternoon, after conducting mopping-up operations that saw the capture of Foday Kallay and the recovery of the Land Rovers.

RFA Fort Victoria and RFA Sir Percivale were engaged in support of this operation

The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea mega thrust earth quake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on 26 December 2004, with an  epicenter off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The resulting tsunami itself was given various names, including the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Asian Tsunami, Indonesian Tsunami, and Boxing Day Tsunami.

The earthquake triggered a series of devastating tsunami along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing more than 225,000 people in eleven countries, and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30  meters (100 feet) high. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand were the hardest hit.

With a magnitude of between 9.1 and 9.3, it is the second largest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph. This earthquake had the longest duration of faulting ever observed, between 8.3 and 10 minutes. It caused the entire planet to vibrate as much as 1 cm (0.4 inches) and triggered other earthquakes as far away as Alaska.

The plight of the many affected people and countries prompted wide spread  humanitarian response.

Various Royal Naval units were tasked to provide humanitarian assistance. The Ministry of Defence assigned the name Operation Garron for the relief operations.

The following RFA was deployed with additional RN engineering personnel

embarked to provide technical assistance to the Maldives to repair 28 generators and restore electrical power..

RFA Diligence

RFA Dilligence