RFA Olna (A126) was one of two ships built for Shell

Royal Dutch Shell

Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...

. She was originally named Hellicina and taken up for Fleet Service soon after building.

She was taken into service as a fleet tanker of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary

Royal Fleet Auxiliary

The Royal Fleet Auxiliary is a civilian-manned fleet owned by the British Ministry of Defence. The RFA enables ships of the United Kingdom Royal Navy to maintain operations around the world. Its primary role is to supply the Royal Navy with fuel, ammunition and supplies, normally by replenishment...

. The ship was built for service with the British Pacific Fleet

British Pacific Fleet

The British Pacific Fleet was a British Commonwealth naval force which saw action against Japan during World War II. The fleet was composed of British Commonwealth naval vessels. The BPF formally came into being on 22 November 1944...

 against Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

, and was commissioned into the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

 for that purpose. However after the Second World War

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 the ship was quickly transferred to the RFA, making the move in 1946. Olna was crucial to the development of replenishment at sea doctrines for the British fleet, and saw service up until 1966.

In 1956 when serving with the Mediterranean fleet, Olna was used in the making of the film Battle of the River Plate to depict the Graf Spees supply ship Altmark

German tanker Altmark

Altmark was a German oil tanker and supply vessel, one of five of a class built between 1937 and 1939. She is best known for her support of the German commerce raider, the "pocket battleship" and her subsequent involvement in the "Altmark Incident"....

. There are interesting scenes of replenishment at sea with the American heavy cruiser USS Salem

USS Salem (CA-139)

The third USS Salem is a Des Moines-class heavy cruiser, formerly commissioned in the United States Navy. The world's last all-gun heavy cruiser to enter commission, she is currently open to the public as a museum ship in Quincy, Massachusetts.-Construction and shakedown:Salem was laid down on 4...

 which was used to represent the German pocket battleship Admiral Graf Spee.