As the United Kingdom fought for its survival during World War II, a team of American oil drillers, derrickhands, roustabouts, and motormen secretly boarded the converted troopship HMS Queen Elizabeth in March 1943. Once their story was revealed years later, they would become known as the Roughnecks of Sherwood Forest.
By the summer of 1942, the situation was desperate. The future of Great Britain – and the outcome of World War II – depended on petroleum supplies.
By the end of that year, demand for 100-octane fuel would grow to more than 150,000 barrels of oil every day – and German U-boats ruled the Atlantic.
In August 1942, British Secretary of Petroleum, Geoffrey Lloyd called an emergency meeting of the Oil Control Board to assess the “impending crisis in oil.â€
This is the story of the “little-known, or at least seldom recognized, all-important role oil and oilmen played in the prosecution of the war,†noted two historians who extensively researched archives in Great Britain and the United States.
Guy Woodward and Grace Steele Woodward published The Secret of Sherwood Forest – Oil Production in England During World War II in 1973.
“The amazing and hitherto untold story, born in secrecy, has remained buried in the private diaries, corporate files and official records of government agencies,†explain the Woodwards in their book.
Can read the rest of the story here at AOGHS
Photo used under CC 3.0 Author: Paul Lakin
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