Battleship gold runs to Canada

The Royal Navy considered Revenge important enough to disguise a merchant ship as a decoy and initially contemplated using her against Admiral Graf Spee in the South Atlantic. Instead, Revenge and Resolution carried gold to Halifax for Anglo-French arms purchases while also supporting North Atlantic convoy protection. Their armor, modernized fire control, and combined 15-inch batteries made attack by a Deutschland-class raider an unattractive prospect. Further voyages culminated in Operation Fish, which moved British reserves beyond the reach of invasion. Across these runs, Revenge transported about £52 million in contemporary value. Gold worked as a transferable reserve between states, making these voyages critical to Britain's ability to continue the war.