Emerald-class light cruisers of the Royal Navy

Operation Fish was the World War II evacuation of British wealth from the UK to Canada.Two million pounds in gold bars [UK£ 100,000,000 in 2018] is to be embarked in each ship to Halifax.On 7 October 1939 Emerald sailed from Plymouth for Halifax, Nova Scotia with the gold bullion from the Bank of England, bound for Montreal, Quebec, Canada, to be used to pay for American war materials. As this voyage was under the strictest secrecy, the crew were outfitted with “tropical white” uniforms, to confuse German agents. In the company of the two old battleships, HMS Revenge and HMS Resolution and her sister ship, HMS Enterprise, as well as the old cruiser HMS Caradoc, the Emerald ran into some of the heaviest seas that Agar encountered.
When Winston Churchill formed his government in 1940 the war was going badly for the Allies. As a guarantee that the Empire could continue the fight if the UK was overrun, Churchill devised a plan to ship British wealth to the safety of Canada. Using their wartime powers the Churchill government confiscated the securities that the British people were forced to register at the beginning of the year and under the cover of secrecy moved them to the port of Greenock in Scotland. Then men sworn to silence loaded the wealth onto the Emerald-class light cruiser HMS Emerald.