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BRITISH TANKER’S DASH TO SHANGHAI
SS Louise Moller Sweeps Past
Nationalist Warship claiming to be the RFA Black Ranger
as a RN Frigate Stands By
On 28 October 1949 the British tanker Louise Moller (previously RFA Rapidol) swept past in defiance of a Nationalist gunboat in the Yangtse Estuary in international waters to run through the Shanghai sea blockade successfully and delivered half a million gallons of diesel oil for Caltex.
Fort Class Plaques
FORT CLASS PLAQUES
Sources Naval Stores Journal / G M Manuell MBE collection / Vancouver Maritime Museum
Just after the end of World War 2 and in the years following that conflict the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Service added to its fleet eight ships each of which had been built by Canadian ship builders.
The history of the ships name was recorded on framed plaques which were placed in the officer’s saloons by the builders
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On this day in December
Since the creation of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary in 1905 the ships of the Service have, during the month of December -
On this day –
The RFA's that weren't
The RFA's that weren't
or the
Decoys and Dummies of World War Two
by
James R. Smith
The RFA Cover-Names Q-Ships
Small merchantmen armed with concealed guns which could be quickly unmasked when they were stopped by an enemy submarine had been in service as decoys, or Q-Ships, as early as November 1914. Perhaps the first successful Q-Ship was the collier PRINCE CHARLES which managed to sink the German submarine U-36 off the Orkneys on 24 July 1915. During the course of World War One a total of eleven enemy submarines were sunk, forty two were seriously damaged and a further forty three were slightly damaged.
Operation Algeciras
In 1982, during the Falklands Conflict a plan was hatched in Argentina to destroy British ships in Gibraltar harbour. This plan was approved by Admiral Jorge Anaya, who kept it secret from the Junta.