Naval trawler
Naval trawlers are vessels built along the lines of a
History
The naval trawler is a concept for expeditiously converting a nation's fishing boats and fishermen to military assets. England used trawlers to maintain control of seaward approaches to major harbours. No one knew these waters as well as local fishermen, and the trawler was the ship type these fishermen understood and could operate effectively without further instruction. The Royal Navy maintained a small inventory of trawlers in peacetime, but requisitioned much larger numbers of civilian trawlers in wartime. The larger and newer trawlers and whalers were converted for antisubmarine use and the older and smaller trawlers were converted to minesweepers.[1]
Armed trawlers were also used to defend fishing groups from enemy aircraft or submarines. The smallest civilian trawlers were converted to
Contemporary
Some nations still use armed trawlers for fisheries protection and patrol. The
Trawler classes
- Basset class
- Battle class
- Castle class
- Dance class
- Isles class
- Portuguese class
- Shakespearian class
- Tree class
- Type 139
Around the world
Belgium
In the aftermath of the First World War, the Belgian
Brazil
As with Portugal, the British Royal Navy had a number of trawler-type warships on order from Brazilian shipyards. With the declaration of war by Brazil against Germany in 1942 these vessels were transferred to the Brazilian Navy for anti-submarine and escort duties.[4]
China
People's Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) uses naval trawlers as spy ships, as well as fishing when PLAN was allowed to conduct business activities to supplement the huge military expenditure. In addition, prior to Chinese economic reform, it was relatively easy for PLAN to commandeer private vessels for military use in emergency situations when everything was government-owned in planned economy, but this has become increasingly difficult to do after the reform due to private ownership. However, PLAN has to keep a very large number of auxiliary minesweepers to prepare for war, and as a result, when naval trawlers had retired from their intelligence gathering role, they were converted to auxiliary minesweepers and placed in operational reserve of PLAN.[5] In addition, environmental problems have caused constant geological/geographical/hydrographical changes in Chinese waters, hence creating huge survey requirement, thus a number of these naval trawlers retired from their spy ship roles have also been converted to survey vessels to meet the extremely heavy hydrographic survey requirement.[6] Chinese naval trawlers include Type 113, Type 801, Type 8105, Type 8101, Type 8154 and Type 792 naval trawlers.
France
The French Navy used trawlers requisitioned from civilian use in wartime. In the Second World War 480 trawler-type vessels were in service as auxiliary mine-sweepers, and a further 60 as auxiliary patrol vessels.[7]
Germany
During the Second World War the Kriegsmarine operated trawlers as Vorpostenboot (outpost boats) and as weather ships; the Lauenburg was an example. It also used a large number of Kriegsfischkutter, trawlers built after the 24m long model "G" of the scientifically developed fishing cutter models (seven "Reichsfischkutter"-models A to- G), redesigned for naval uses such as anti-submarine warfare, but intended for conversion to fishing vessel after the war.
The weather trawler programme was a major disaster for the German war effort; it has even been suggested that it was one of the major contributors to Germany's defeat. The British Royal Navy monitored and pursued them relentlessly, capturing or sinking many. The reason was not just the strategic importance of weather data, but that the trawlers were carrying Enigma encryption machines and information, which when captured helped the British to crack the Enigma code, enabling them to read Germany's secret communications; the Germans discontinued the use of weather trawlers as they were too vulnerable, though they had not understood how their weather missions compromised Enigma. [8]
India
The
Japan
As the Second World War progressed, Japan commandeered some fishing vessels for use as picket boats. To augment these, and to replace losses, the Imperial Japanese Navy also ordered a group of 280 picket boats, built on trawler lines but to Navy specifications. This was the
New Zealand
In World War II the Royal New Zealand Navy operated 35 minesweepers, including 20 purpose-built naval trawlers (13
Norway
Norway had a large fishing and whaling fleet industry. For the Second World War the Royal Norwegian Navy used six converted whalers and 22 other fishing vessels as minesweepers, and a further ten as patrol craft.[9] The Royal Norwegian Navy also used a German naval trawler captured in April 1940 and put into service as HNoMS Honningsvåg. After the occupation of Norway the Free Norwegian forces used fishing vessels for their clandestine Shetland bus operations in support of the Norwegian resistance.
Portugal
Though Portugal was
Romania
Romania acquired three German KFK naval trawlers in 1943.[11]
United Kingdom
During the First World War, the
Before and during the Second World War, the Royal Navy ordered many naval trawlers to
During the 1982
United States
The US Navy generally favoured custom-built warships to civilian conversions, but in the first months of World War II the acute shortage of vessels for coastal defence and anti-submarine work led to the formation of a
Gallery
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Wheelhouse of a naval trawler
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Wireless operator
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Engine room
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Stoker shovelling coal from a bunker
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Cleaning the gun
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Slipping the "kite" which controls the mine sweeping depth
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Cook in the galley
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Cards in thefo'c's'le
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Mail day
See also
- HMT Agate - an armed trawler
- Tuman- Soviet naval trawler sunk in the Kildin Island engagement [August 4, 1941]
- Naval drifter
- Royal Naval Patrol Service
Notes
- ^ "Anti-Submarine Trawlers - Fighting the U-boats". uboat.net. Retrieved 10 January 2021.
- ISBN 9781935501268.
- ^ Peckham, Matt (17 November 2008). "Somali Pirates Plundering Trade Ships". PC World – via The Washington Post.
- ^ Chesneau p. 417
- ^ "Chinese naval trawlers converted to auxiliary minesweepers" (in Simplified Chinese). November 11, 2015.
- ^ "Chinese naval trawlers converted to survey vessels" (in Simplified Chinese). November 11, 2015.
- ^ Chesneau p. 279
- ^ Eric Niderost (11 December 2018). "The Weather War of WWII". Warfare History Network. Retrieved 12 August 2020.
- ^ Chesneau p. 381
- ^ Chesneau p. 67
- ^ Cornel I. Scafeș, Armata Română 1941-1945, RAI Publishing, 1996, p. 174.
- ^ "World War One – The War At Sea - Auxiliary Patrol". navymuseum.co.nz. National Museum of the Royal New Zealand Navy. Archived from the original on 15 September 2016. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
- ^ Hoole, Rob (June 2007). "The Forgotten Few of the Falklands". www.mcdoa.org.uk. Mine Warfare & Clearance Diving Officers' Association. Retrieved 15 July 2016.
- ^ Chesneau p. 152
- ^ Willoughby, Malcolm F. (1957). The U.S. Coast Guard in World War II. Annapolis, Maryland: United States Naval Institute. p. 100.
Reading
- Chesneau, Roger (1980). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922-1946. ISBN 0-85177-146-7.
- Lund, Paul; Ludlam, Harry (1971). Trawlers go to War. W. Foulsham. ISBN 978-0-572-00768-3.
- Lund, Paul; Ludlam, Harry (1972). Trawlers go to War (paperback). New English Library. ISBN 0-450-01175-5.
- Lund, Paul; Ludlam, Harry (1978). Out Sweeps! - The Story of the Minesweepers in World War II. New English Library. ISBN 978-0-450-04468-7.
- McKee, Alexander (1973). The Coal-Scuttle Brigade : The splendid, dramatic story of the Channel convoys. New English Library. ISBN 978-0450013546.