On 21 April 1951 the Naval Armaments Vessel Bedenham sailed from Bull Point Naval Armaments Depot, Plymouth loaded with approximately 790 tons of depth charges, ammunition and other ordnance for Gibraltar and Malta. The vessel had made this voyage on…

Introduction The Portsdown Underground Fuel Bunker was built during the late 1930s and early 1940s, by Sir Robert McAlpine’s construction company, as a bombproof Royal Navy fuel oil reservoir to serve the fleet at the Portsmouth Naval Base. The oil…

How to solve this RFA Code Word In this RFA Code Word every letter of the alphabet has been replaced by a number, this same number represents the same letter through out the whole puzzle. To start you off we…

  During the 20th century many ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary berthed at the Oil Fuel Depot at Old Kilpatrick to load or discharge but almost certainly very few of the crews were aware of the Depot’s history Old…

RFA Wave Knight (2) RAS’s with HMS Bulwalk and RFA Lyme Bay during the Cougar 14 deployment ©MOD copyright  

On 27 January 2002 RFA Fort George’s embarked helicopters from A Flight, 820 Squadron, RNAS were at the centre of a dramatic rescue of fourteen crew members of the M.V. Parveen Sagar, a 50 foot dhow which was on passage…

    Fearing his soul had been contaminated by a ‘death touch’ Sailor’s Cook Tam Pui of RFA Empire Gull believed he would die if he didn’t urgently return home to Hong Kong to be cleansed. He believed that Seaman…

This article is the result of an in-depth research programme which has been undertaken concerning Masters in the RFA. With the start of the RFA the ships deck officers for many years had served their Apprenticeships on sailing ships and…

RFA Historical Society Word Search The RFA Historical Society word search game invites you to identify the names of 77 ships which are serving or have served as RFA’s. The words are placed in the table horizontally, vertically and diagonally.…