The Bulawayo Cup was originally one of a series of trophies presented to HMS Bulawayo by the citizens of Zimbabwe’s (then known as Rhodesia) second city, when the captured German tanker “Nordmark” was commissioned into the Royal Navy and eventually re-named HMS Bulawayo.
The Bulawayo Cup was originally one of a series of trophies presented to HMS Bulawayo by the citizens of Zimbabwe’s (then known as Rhodesia) second city, when the captured German tanker “Nordmark” was commissioned into the Royal Navy and eventually re-named HMS Bulawayo. As well as the cup (there were in fact two cups) there were three silver salvers presented to the ship, one large and two smaller ones.
HMS Bulawayo was used by the Royal Navy to conduct replenishment at sea trials and an enormous amount of useful knowledge was gained from these trials. The Bulawayo Cup was awarded to the Royal Navy or Royal Fleet Auxiliary ship, which in the opinion of the “Committee”, had in the previous year, displayed the most conspicuous efficiency in fleet replenishment at sea on the Mediterranean station.
From information received, it seems that this trophy was awarded between 1951 and 1960, and of the ten occasions that it was known to have been awarded, RFA ships won it on eight of these.
Winners List:
1951 – HMS Vigo
1952 – RFA Blue Ranger
1953 – RFA Fort Duquesne
1954 – RFA Fort Duquesne
1955 – HMS Aisne
1956 – RFA Retainer
1957 – RFA Fort Duquesne
1958 – RFA Tideflow
1959 – Shared between RFA Fort Langley / RFA Fort Duquesne
1960 – Shared jointly by RFA Tide Austral / RFA Fort Duquesne
Officers of RFA Blue Ranger display the Bulawayo Cup in the trophy cabinet in their lounge