Roger Courtney was an unassuming but unusually capable officer whose pre-war canoeing made a folding kayak a practical military tool. He and his wife had taken Buttercup down the Danube before he brought the boat into wartime service with her blessing. Courtney formed a twelve-man Folding Boat Troop around the ability to travel quietly from a ship or submarine to shore. The unit converted experience with a civilian craft into a specialised maritime-raiding capability.
Chapter · 7:28-9:47
Roger Courtney and the Folding Boat Troop
Roger Courtney's experience with a folding kayak helped turn a personal skill into the small clandestine unit that became the SBS's ancestor.