THE ENEMY FOUGHT SPLENDIDLY

[j.r.f]

PALS

This afternoon I went to a flee market here in Bristol.There i bought a book,which I have now read,about the Battle of The Falklands in the First World War.I have never really been into the sea before But I was fasinated .It is called THE ENEMY FOUHT SPLENDIDLY by DR T.B.Bixon RNVR.Dr onH.M.S.KENT.It is not very often that I read a book from cover to cover in one sitting.I did with this one.It is only a slim volume.Ok this man was a officer but did he have a good time.He spent a fair ammount of time ashore,exploring,or catching fish in shallow waters.I think generally enjoying himself.Of course there is another side to the coin.the guns going of and the noise and fear of incoming ordinance.I think this part was dire and how they coped with it I donot know.The other problem was one of COALING which they had to do at frequent intervals.Do any of you Naval buffs know how this was done.I dont meen physically.From his reports it was a question of all hands putting in the maximum effort.NO the bquestion is how did the captain of the boat or the Admiralty arrange that a collier would be in a given place at a given time.Did the coal come from the U.K. directly or did it come from local sources?If it was local.How did a captain pay for tens of thousands of tons of coal that were neaded throughout the voyage?I will never take the Navy in vain again.All I can say is that they done well.

CHEERS.JOHN.

[DirtyDick]

I think by then the Navy employed the MFA (Marine Fleet Auxiliary), a precursor to the present day RFA (Royal Fleet Auxiliary) for such duties; consequently, unless, as nowadays, arrangements were made for local refueling in overseas ports with a govt. credit card, it was all in-house. Also, a key aspect in the viability of the defence of the British Empire was in having many distant coaling stations within sailing reach of most vessels.

Richard

[ianw]

I have certainly seen pictures of the whole ships company looking like sweeps after

coaling. This explains why oil fired boilers were such an advance abd gave the Royal Navy such an advantage.

The Battle of the Falklands is fascinating. I seem to recall that the German commanders knew most of them were doomed immediately they saw the masts in the harbour and were able to then ascertain the nature of the British vessels that would hunt them down.