RFA ''Resource'' was an armament stores ship of the
Royal Fleet Auxiliary.
Falklands War
''Resource'' served in the
Falklands War
The Falklands War ( es, link=no, Guerra de las Malvinas) was a ten-week undeclared war between Argentina and the United Kingdom in 1982 over two British dependent territories in the South Atlantic: the Falkland Islands and its territorial de ...
, captained at that time by Captain Bruce Seymour. She was one of the first vessels on the scene to pick up survivors from
HMS ''Sheffield'', having just supplied her.
RFA ''Resource'' was one of several RFA munitions replenishment ships certified to store and supply the fleet with munitions, including
WE.177A
The WE.177, originally styled as WE 177, and sometimes simply as WE177, was a series of tactical and strategic nuclear weapons with which the Royal Navy (RN) and the Royal Air Force (RAF) were equipped. It was the primary air-dropped nuclear wea ...
live nuclear weapons. Other ships capable of carrying (stored in deep magazines) or deploying these weapons were , , and , they were transferred to various Royal Fleet Auxiliary ships with their specialist magazines. This was initially
RFA ''Regent'', and when RFA ''Resource'' exited San Carlos, they were transferred to her, and then to
RFA ''Fort Austin''. After the end of the conflict they were transported back to Britain aboard RFA ''Fort Austin'' and RFA ''Resource''. Inert practice weapons and surveillance weapons without fissionable material were also transported.
Yugoslavia
One of ''Resource''s last duties before being decommissioned was to serve as a floating munitions storage for
UN and
IFOR troops in the former
Yugoslavia. She spent much of the mid 1990s in
Split,
Croatia, fulfilling this role.
Decommissioning and scrapping
''Resource'' sailed from
Devonport on 24 June 1997, having been renamed ''Resourceful'' for the delivery run to the Indian
breakers, and arrived at
Alang for scrapping on 20 August 1997.
Image:resource_badge.jpg, RFA ''Resource'' ship's badge.
Footnotes
* Guardian Article mentioning RFA Resource - http://www.guardian.co.uk/falklands/story/0,,657867,00.html
* Images of RFA Resource and a Wessex Helicopter - http://www.john.fotoblog.org.uk/p14552235.html
* Images and information about RFA Resource and sister ship Regent - https://web.archive.org/web/20061212183624/http://www.btinternet.com/~warship/Feature/rfa/pics2.htm
* Hansard entry mentioning final fate of RFA Resource - https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200203/cmhansrd/vo030227/text/30227w04.htm
* Falklands day by day from Royal Navy - http://www.navynews.co.uk/falklands/day_april.asp
Stores ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary
1966 ships
Falklands War naval ships of the United Kingdom
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