Motor launch (naval)
 A WW I motor launch - ML 59
| |
| Class overview | |
|---|---|
| Builders | Elco |
| Operators |  Royal Navy |
| Built | 1915–1918 |
| In commission | 1915–1920s |
| Completed | 580 |
| General characteristics ML.1–50 series | |
| Type | Motor launch |
| Displacement | 34 t |
| Length | 75 ft (23 m) |
| Propulsion | Petrol engine |
| Speed | 19 kn (35 km/h) |
| Complement | 8 |
| Armament |
|
| General characteristics ML.51–550 series | |
| Type | Motor launch |
| Displacement | 37 t |
| Length | 86 ft (26 m) |
| Propulsion | Petrol engine |
| Speed | 19 kn (35 km/h) |
| Complement | 6 |
| Armament |
|
| General characteristics ML.551–580 | |
| Type | Motor launch |
| Displacement | 37 t |
| Length | 80 ft (24 m) |
| Speed | 19 kn (35 km/h) |
| Complement | 8 |
| Armament |
|
A motor launch (ML) is a small military vessel in
harbour defence and submarine chasing. Similar vessels were used by the Royal Air Force for armed high-speed air-sea rescue. Some vessels for water police
service are also known as motor launches.
Motor launches were slower than motor gun boats
World War I service
Although small by naval standards, it was larger than the preceding steam or diesel-engined
First World War. These were five hundred and eighty 80-foot-long (24 m) vessels built by the US Elco company for the Admiralty, receiving the numbers ML-1 to ML-580. They served with the Royal Navy between 1916 and the end of the war, defending the British coast from German submarines.[1] Some of the earliest examples, including ML 1, also served in the Persian Gulf from June 1916. After the Armistice of 11 November 1918 a flotilla of 12 Royal Navy motor launches travelled down the Rhine performing duty as the Rhine Patrol Flotilla.[2] The only known surviving example of a World War I era motor launch is ML-286
, which now lies in a poor condition on the banks of the River Thames.
World War II types
| Type | Length | Weight | Speed | Built | Total | Lost | Designed for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fairmile A motor launch | 110 ft (34 m) | 57 tons | 25 kn (46 km/h; 29 mph) | 1939 | 12 | Submarine chasing, later minelaying | |
| Fairmile B motor launch | 112 ft (34 m) | 85 tons | 20 kn (37 km/h; 23 mph) | 1940–45 | 1,284 | Submarine chasing, many later roles including air-sea rescue | |
| Harbour defence motor launch | 72 ft (22 m) | 54 tons | 12 kn (22 km/h; 14 mph) | 1940–45 | 486 | 47 | Defending harbours; anti-submarine
|
BPBC Type Two 63 ft high speed launch "Whaleback"
|
63 ft (19 m) | 21.5 tons | 36 kn (67 km/h; 41 mph) | 1940–1942 | 70 | RAF air-sea rescue downed aircrew, particularly in the English Channel |
The BPBC Type Two was succeeded by the Type Three 68 ft "Hants and Dorset".
Post-war, many motor launches were taken on as pleasure boats. A number of them are on the
National Register of Historic Vessels.[3]
See also
- Harbour launch
- High-speed launch
- Motor gunboat
- Motor torpedo boat
- Coastal Forces of the Royal Navy
- R boat – German World War II equivalent
- Dark-class fast patrol boat
References
- ^ Gardiner, p. 101
- ^ Jeffrey Charles. "The Rhine Patrol Flotilla Part I: Establishment of the Flotilla".
- ^ Gardiner and Chesneau, p. 71
- Gardiner, Robert, Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921 Conway Maritime Press, 1985. ISBN 0-85177-245-5.
- Gardiner, Robert and Chesneau, Roger, Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946, Conway Maritime Press, 1980. ISBN 0-83170-303-2.
External links
- UK National Register of Historic Vessels
- Naval Museum of Manitoba Archived 10 November 2007 at the Wayback Machine
- Juno Beach Archived 9 March 2014 at the Wayback Machine
- A Short History of HMS St Christopher. Royal Navy Coastal Forces training base, mainly for MLs
- Stoker Harold Siddall Royal Navy, his service in ML.1030 and capture in Crete 1941
- "The Movies" A Motor Launch History