RFA ''Gold Ranger'' (A130) was a Ranger-class fleet support tanker of the

Royal Fleet Auxiliary The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) is a naval auxiliary fleet owned by the UK's Ministry of Defence. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service and provides logistical and operational support to the Royal Navy and Royal Marines. The RF ...

which first served in World War II. In December, 1949, she supported Operation Corkscrew by providing aviation fuel at

Deception Island Deception Island is in the South Shetland Islands close to the Antarctic Peninsula with a large and usually "safe" natural harbour, which is occasionally affected by the underlying active volcano. This island is the caldera of an active volc ...

for aircraft which helped relieve men of the

Falkland Islands Dependencies Survey The Falkland Islands and Dependencies Aerial Survey Expedition (FIDASE) was an aerial survey of the Falkland Islands Dependencies The Falkland Islands Dependencies was the constitutional arrangement from 1843 until 1985 for administering the v ...

at Base E on

Stonington Island Stonington Island is a rocky island lying northeast of Neny Island in the eastern part of Marguerite Bay off the west coast of Graham Land, Antarctica. It is long from north-west to south-east and wide, yielding an area of . It was formerl ...

. She later served in the Korean War, and in support of the atomic tests at Mauro Atoll. She was later employed as a support ship for minesweepers during the

Indonesian Confrontation Indonesian is anything of, from, or related to Indonesia, an archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. It may refer to: * Indonesians, citizens of Indonesia ** Native Indonesians, diverse groups of local inhabitants of the archipelago ** Indonesian ...

. In 1972 she brought the expedition members of the

Joint Services The British Armed Forces are the unified military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, support international peacekeeping ef ...

Egmont Islands Expedition (JSEI) from Gan, Addu Atoll to the Egmont Atoll. Led by Sqn Leader "Dickie" Bird RAF, it was the first

scuba diving Scuba diving is a Diving mode, mode of underwater diving whereby divers use Scuba set, breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface breathing gas supply, and therefore has a limited but variable endurance. The word ''scub ...

expedition in the

Chagos Archipelago The Chagos Archipelago (, ) or Chagos Islands (formerly , and later the Oil Islands) is a group of seven atolls comprising more than 60 islands in the Indian Ocean about south of the Maldives archipelago. This chain of islands is the southernmo ...

. Following its success, a second expedition was undertaken to Danger Island the following year.Baldwin, EA (ed.), ''A report on the Joint Services Expedition to Danger Island in the central Indian Ocean, December 1974 to April 1975'', Ministry of Defence Publication, London 1975

References

Ranger-class tankers 1941 ships {{UK-aux-ship-stub