[BITList] More on RFA

[John Feltham]

 From a correspondent.




Some light reading on RFA crews -

The RFA was started in 1905 and all the crews signed BofT agreements  
as merchant seamen - either FG or HT depending on which ship they were  
serving and where it was going.

1915 the Admiralty created two types of RFA - one lot under Admiralty  
management and the other lot under civil management. Dealing with this  
second lot first - they were all freighting tankers and were used to  
collect oil from the USA. The US had the neutrality acts and only  
allowed civil ships with merchant seaman on them to trade with US  
ports. The Admiralty managed ships were manned by RNR senior officers  
and Mercantile Marine Reserve (known as MMR) junior officers and men.  
These crews were subject to Naval Discipline and the MMR crews were  
administered by HMS Eagle at Liverpool (until 1918 when the ship - HMS  
Eagle was renamed HMS Eaglet- they still managed the MMRs though). The  
Master, Ch.Off, Chief Engineer and 2nd Engineer were made RNR officers  
- the Master was usually a Lieutenant - the others were Sub Lieutenants.

By around 1 November 1919 the crews of all RFA's were signing new BofT  
agreements and they all became Merchant Seaman again. They remained to  
this day as Merchant Seaman however during WW2 all RFA's were armed  
and the ships were known as DEMS - Defensively Equipped Merchant  
Ships. The gun crews were Army ( Maritime Regiment, Royal Artillery)  
or Royal Naval Ratings. At the end of the 2nd World War the guns were  
removed and ships just had Merchant Seaman on them. The DEMS  
accommodation was used for used for the crew.

OK so far? Right the Falkland War comes along and RFA's were equipped  
with machine guns (large sized) and the crew (MN) were using them  
shooting at the Argies. During the 1st Gulf War again the ships were  
equipped with guns and some had much larger guns (3,000 rounds a  
minute etc. to shoot down missiles). These guns are permanently fixed  
- RFA Fort Victoria being one such ship). There was a legal problem -  
civilians were operating these guns and this was against international  
law. The UK Government got round this by creating a new branch of the  
RNR. All RFA crews are contract (there is no pool any more) and so  
were invited (for more money) to sign up as RNR. Now the RNR service  
only comes into force when (a) the ship enters a war zone and (b) the  
Queen has signed an Order in Council. The crew can then use the guns  
to fire etc. as they are no longer merchant seaman. When they leave  
the war zone they become merchant seaman again.

You will see why I was a bit careful when I originally replied to you.  
In the 1960's the ships were manned by Merchant Navy Seaman - some who  
were contract (all the officers and some of the senior crew) and the  
rest came from the pool.




ooroo

If you don't hear the knock of opportunity - build a door.

Anon.



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