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( Royal Fleet Auxiliary)
The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) is a component of the Naval Service that keeps the Royal Navy of the United Kingdom running around the world. Its main function is to supply the Royal Navy with fuel and supplies. It also counts a repair ship, and amphibious assault vessels amongst its assets. RFA personnel are civilians of the Ministry of Defence civil service who wear Merchant Navy-style uniforms and rank insignia and who are under naval discipline when the vessel is engaged on warlike operations. RFA vessels are manned predominantly by the civilians, augmented with regular Royal Navy personnel to perform specialised military functions, such as operating and maintaining helicopters, operating weapon systems (many RFA ships are armed with defensive weapons) or manning hospital facilities. The RFA is funded out of the UK defence budget, the Commodore commanding the RFA is directly responsible to the Royal Navy Commander in Chief Fleet (Cinc Fleet). The RFA was first established in 1905 to provide coaling ships for the Navy in an era when the change from sail to coal as the main means of propulsion meant that a network of bases around the world with coaling facilities or a fleet of ships able to supply coal were necessary for a fleet to operate away from its home country. Since the Royal Navy of that era possessed the largest network of bases around the world of any fleet, the RFA at first took a relatively minor role. The RFA really came into its own in World War II when the British fleet was often far from available bases, either due to the enemy capturing available bases, or, in the Pacific, the sheer distances involved. WWII also saw naval ships staying at sea for much longer periods than had been the case since the days of sail. Techniques of underway replenishment, or Replenishment At Sea (RAS), were developed particularly by the United States Navy. The British auxiliary fleet was never up to the standards of that of the American fast carrier taskforces in the Pacific. The auxiliary fleet was a polyglot collection with not only RFA ships, but commissioned warships and merchantmen as well. However, the need for such a fleet was unambiguously demonstrated by WWII. After 1945, the RFA assumed centre stage in supporting the operations of the Royal Navy in the many conflicts that the Navy was involved in. The RFA performed important service to the Far East Fleet off Korea from 1950 until 1953, when sustained carrier operations were again mounted in Pacific waters. During the extended operations of the Konfrontasi in the 1960s, the RFA was also heavily involved. As the network of British bases overseas shrank during the end of the Empire, the Navy increasingly relied on the RFA to supply its ships during routine deployments.
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