Countries with large naval forces must maintain means for fueling their fleets in times of conflict, to this end defended fueling stations were set up around theaters of operations. Examples of such fuelling stations were almost any of the principal ports of the British Isles, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, British Africa, or India. In addition, there were facilities for coaling vessels at St. Helena, Ascension, or the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic; at Jamaica or Bermuda in the North Atlantic, at Gibraltar, Malta, and Port Said in the Mediterranean; at Aden, on the Gulf of Aden; at Colombo in Ceylon (Sri Lanka); at Singapore; and at Labuan in the China Sea; at Hong Kong on the Chinese coast; at Chagos, Seychelles, or Mauritius in the Indian Ocean; at Thursday Island and Suva, Fiji in the South Pacific: (British) and at Honolulu, Pago Pago and Manila in the Pacific for the United States. While defense of naval fuelling stations has historically focused on attack by other naval powers The concept of coaling ship was simple: move enormous piles of coal from heaps on a dock, into coal bunkers below deck on a warship. The challenge was the sheer volume of coal to be moved. In order to fully stock for a deployment at sea, a warship would load thousands of tons of coal on board ship, all of it moved by hand. All hands participated in this brutal marathon of hauling Coaling ship continued night and day until finished. If the ship had a band, it would often play music to accompany the brutal work. When finished coaling, sailors and ship alike were covered with a thick layer of coal dust
Posted on: Thu, 17 Jul 2014 00:51:51 +0000
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