Initial design
At the start of the First World War, it soon became clear that a large number of minesweepers would be required to keep coastal shipping routes free from naval mines that were laid at night by fast German minelayers. Initially, requisitioned trawlers were used for the task, but they had too deep a draught to operate in some areas, and could be too slow to sever the mooring cables of the mines. Late in 1914, the Admiralty hired a number of paddle steamers which were built to carry tourists to seaside resorts or on pleasure cruises. They were significantly faster than the trawlers and had a shallower draught. Although unable to operate in rough seas, they were judged to be the best solution to the problem and a requirement was issued for a purpose-built class based on the PS Glen Usk, a Bristol pleasure steamer. Because of their size and simplicity, they could be built in small shipyards without affecting the production of larger warships. [1]
The original design was by the Ailsa Shipbuilding Company. The ships were completed between April and October 1916. Launch dates are shown below.
- HMS Ascot: January 1916, Ailsa S.B. Co—first of class, also last ship to be lost in World War I.
- HMS Atherstone: January 1916, Ailsa S.B. Co. Converted for passenger use in 1929 as PS Queen of Kent. Converted back to minesweeper in 1939. [2]
- HMS Chelmsford: April 1916, Ailsa S.B. Co
- HMS Cheltenham: June 1916, Ardrossan Co
- HMS Chepstow: April 1916, Ayrshire D.Y. Co
- HMS Croxton: April 1916, Ayrshire D.Y. Co
- HMS Doncaster: June 1916 Ayrshire D.Y. Co
- HMS Eglinton: September 1916, Ayrshire D.Y. Co
- HMS Epsom: May 1916, G. Brown
- HMS Eridge: February 1916, Clyde S.B. Co. Originally fitted to carry seaplanes.
- HMS Gatwick: April 1916, Dundee S.B. Co.
- HMS Goodwood: June 1916, Dundee S.B. Co.
- HMS Haldon: March 1916, Dunlop, Bremner
- HMS Hurst: May 1916, Dunlop, Bremner
- HMS Kempton: Ferguson Bros. Lost in World War I.
- HMS Lingfield: April 1916, Fleming & Ferguson
- HMS Ludlow: Goole Co.—lost in World War I.
- HMS Melton: March 1916, Hamilton. Originally fitted to carry seaplanes. Converted for passenger use in 1929 as PS Queen of Thanet. Converted back to minesweeper in 1940; served at Dunkirk evacuation and Normandy landings. [2]
- HMS Newbury: July 1916, A. & J. Inglis
- HMS Plumpton: McMillan—lost in World War I.
- HMS Pontefract: June 1916, Murdoch & Murray
- HMS Redcar: Ayrshire D.Y. Co.—lost in World War I.
- HMS Sandown: July 1916, Dunlop, Bremner
- HMS Totnes: May 1916, McMillan
On this type the foremast is stepped before the fore bridges and have derricks abeam of the second funnel.
The V and W class was an amalgam of six similar classes of destroyer built for the Royal Navy under the 9th, 10th, 13th and 14th of fourteen War Emergency Programmes during the First World War and generally treated as one class. For their time they were among the most powerful and advanced ships of their type in the world, and set the trend for future British designs.
The Hunt-class minesweeper was a class of minesweeping sloop built between 1916 and 1919 for the Royal Navy. They were built in two discrete groups, the earlier Belvoir group designed by the Ailsa Shipbuilding Company and the subsequent Aberdare group designed by the Admiralty. They were classed as Fleet Minesweeping Sloops, that is ships intended to clear open water. The Belvoir group were named after British fox hunts. Those of the Aberdare group were originally named after coastal towns, watering places and fishing ports, some of which happened to be hunts by coincidence. However, all were soon renamed after inland locations to prevent confusion caused by the misunderstanding of signals and orders.
Ailsa Shipbuilding Company was a Scottish shipbuilding company based in Troon and Ayr, Ayrshire.
Fleming and Ferguson was a Scottish marine engineering and shipbuilding company that traded between 1877 and 1969.
PS Ryde is a paddle steamer that was commissioned and run by Southern Railway as a passenger ferry between mainland England and the Isle of Wight from 1937 to 1969, with an interlude during the Second World War where she served as a minesweeper and then an anti-aircraft ship, seeing action at D-Day. After many years abandoned on moorings at Island Harbour Marina on the River Medina, she was purchased by the PS Ryde Trust in late 2018, with the intention of raising money for her restoration. That project was abandoned in January 2019.
PS Duchess of Montrose was a paddle steamer launched in 1902 and operated by the Caledonian Steam Packet Company as a River Clyde excursion steamer. She saw active service during the First World War after being requisitioned by the Admiralty and converted into a minesweeper. She was lost near Dunkirk on 18 March 1917 after striking a mine.
Duchess of Norfolk was a 381 GRT paddle steamer built in 1911 for the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway and London and South Western Railway, who operated a joint service to the Isle of Wight. She was requisitioned by the Royal Navy for use as minesweeper HMS Duchess of Norfolk during the First World War, returning to her owners after the war ended. She passed to the Southern Railway on 1 January 1923.
HMS Melton was a Racecourse-class minesweeper of the Royal Navy. The Racecourse class comprised 32 paddlewheel coastal minesweeping sloops.
PS Caledonia was a paddle steamer built in 1934. She principally provided an Upper Clyde ferry service, later moving to Ayr and then Craigendoran.
PS Jeanie Deans was a Clyde paddle steamer, built in 1931 for the London and North Eastern Railway. She was a popular boat, providing summer cruises from Craigendoran until 1964.
Bow, McLachlan and Company was a Scottish marine engineering and shipbuilding company that traded between 1872 and 1932.
PS Glen Rosa was a 306 GRT passenger paddle steamer that J&G Thomson launched in 1893 for the Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR). She served with the Royal Navy in the First World War as HMS Glencross. She was absorbed into the London, Midland and Scottish Railway fleet in 1923, transferred to the Caledonian Steam Packet Company in 1938 and scrapped in 1939.
PS Slieve Donard was a United Kingdom passenger paddle steamer that in different periods of her history was also called PS Albion and HMS Albyn. Albion is the name she bore the longest and may be the one by which she is better known in England. Slieve Donard was her original name and the one by which she will be best known on the island of Ireland.
HMS Plumpton was a Racecourse-class minesweeper of the British Royal Navy. She served in the First World War and was of a paddle wheel design. She struggled in heavy seas. Plumpton was mined on 19 October 1918 off Ostend. The ship was beached on the Belgian coast and was broken up where she lay.
PS Eagle III was a passenger-carrying paddle steamer that was built and sailed on the Clyde, and was twice requisitioned by the Admiralty to serve as a minesweeper during the world wars.
PS Duchess of Fife was a paddle steamer built in 1903 for the Caledonian Steam Packet Company. She spent most of her career serving passenger routes in the Firth of Clyde and was requisitioned for use as a minesweeper during both World Wars. In 1940 she took part in the Dunkirk evacuation, rescuing a total of 1,633 allied troops.
HMS Newbury was a Racecourse-class minesweeper of the British Royal Navy, built in 1916 by A. & J. Inglis. The Racecourse-class were paddle-steamers, intended for operations in shallow coastal waters.
PS Gracie Fields was a paddle steamer built in 1936 as a ferry and excursion steamer for Red Funnel of Southampton at the Thornycroft yard at Woolston. She ran on the Southampton-Cowes route until the outbreak of World War II, when she was requisitioned and served as HMS Gracie Fields as a minesweeper. After successfully evacuating troops from the Dunkirk beaches, she was seriously damaged by an aircraft bomb on 29 May 1940, and sank the following morning.
PS Waverley was a Clyde-built paddle steamer that carried passengers on the Clyde between 1885 and 1887, then on the Bristol Channel from 1887 until 1916 when she was requisitioned by the Admiralty to serve as a minesweeper during World War I.
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