HMS Montford

History
United Kingdom
Name	Montford
Launched	10 October 1957
Identification	P3124
Fate	Sold on 9 September 1966 to Nigeria
Nigeria
Name	Ibadan
Acquired	9 September 1966
Captured	By Biafra on 30 May 1967
Biafra
Name	Vigilance
Commissioned	30 May 1967
Fate	Sunk on 9 October 1967
General characteristics
Class & type	Ford-class seaward defence boat
Displacement	120 tons standard 160 tons full load
Length	117 ft 3 in (35.74 m)
Beam	20 ft (6.1 m)
Draught	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Propulsion	1 × Foden diesel (Centre shaft) 2 × Paxman 12YHAX 550 hp (410 kW) Diesels (Outer shafts)
Speed	20 knots (37 km/h)
Armament	1 × Bofors 40 mm gun 2 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannons

BNS Vigilance was one of 23 boats of the Ford class of patrol boats built for the Royal Navy in the 1950s and led ship of Biafran Navy

Their names were all chosen from villages ending in -ford. This boat was named after Montford, Shropshire. She was launched on 10 October 1957 and sold to Nigeria on 9 September 1966. ^[1] Renamed NNS Ibadan,^{[ citation needed ]} she was captured at the declaration of independence of Biafra by independentists in Calabar. ^[2] She saw action as BNS Vigilance during Nigerian Civil War and was sunk on 9 October 1967 at Port Harcourt.

References

1. Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of All Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy from the 15th Century to the Present (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. p. 219. ISBN   978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC   67375475.
2. Duyile, William Abiodun (August 2016). "Nature and Impact of Involvement of the Navy in the Nigerian Civil War, 1967-1970". International Journal of Naval History. Vol. 13, no. 2. Archived from the original on 27 June 2018. Retrieved 27 June 2018.