RFA ''Resurgent'' (A280) was an armament support ship 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 ...
(RFA).
Built by Scotts of Greenock as ''Changchow'', a cargo/passenger liner for the China Navigation Co. Made redundant by the Communist victory in 1949, ''Changchow'' and her sistership ''Chungking'' (later ) were chartered to the French « Messageries Maritimes », for the Marseilles-Sydney line, via Panama.
Purchased by the
Admiralty and chartered out to British India until 1957.
In 1956-1957, under the name Resurgent, she was again chartered to the « Messageries Maritimes », making trips to
New Caledonia
New Caledonia ( ; ) is a group of islands in the southwest Pacific Ocean, southwest of Vanuatu and east of Australia. Located from Metropolitan France, it forms a Overseas France#Sui generis collectivity, ''sui generis'' collectivity of t ...
and Australia. After that, she was converted to an armament store issuing ship and entered RFA service.
In 1975 she took part in the
Joint Services Expedition to
Danger Island (JSDI). Small, rocky, Resurgent Island, which had emerged after the naming of the
Three Brothers in the 18th century, was named after the RFA ''Resurgent'' which supported the
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 ...
scientific research expedition to the area.
[
Baldwin, EA (ed.) (1975), ''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]
She served until 1979, sailing from
Rosyth
Rosyth () is a town and Garden City in Fife, Scotland, on the coast of the Firth of Forth.
Scotland's first Garden city movement, Garden City, Rosyth is part of the Greater Dunfermline Area and is located 3 miles south of Dunfermline city cen ...
in tow for demolition in Spain on 5 May 1981.
References
Ships of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary
1950 ships
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