HMS Boxer (F121)

	HMS Boxer fitted out as a fighter direction ship
History
United Kingdom
Name	HMS Boxer
Ordered	6 March 1941
Builder	Harland and Wolff
Yard number	1155
Launched	12 December 1942
Completed	1 May 1943
Commissioned	10 April 1943
Identification	Pennant number: F121
Fate	Scrapped 1958
General characteristics
Type	Landing Ship, Tank Mark I
Displacement	3,620
Speed	18 knots laden to beaching draught; 16.5 knots at deep;
Capacity	13 Churchill infantry tanks, 27 vehicles, 193 men
Complement	169
Sensors and ; processing systems	SM fire directional radar ; SK-1 air-search radar ;
Service record
Operations:	Allied invasion of Italy ; Normandy landings ;

Last updated January 30, 2023

HMS Boxer was built as a Landing Ship, Tank (LST(1)) at Harland and Wolff. Launched in December 1942 and commissioned the following April, she saw service as part of the Allied invasion of Italy.

Design and development

Boxer was the next in development of the tank landing ship following the conversion of the Maracaibo tankers into landing ships capable of carrying vehicles. The requirement was for a ship that could carry 13 Churchill tanks, 27 other vehicles and 193 men. As it was expected to have a high speed even when laden for the assault (about 18 knots) it could not have a shallow draught. This in turn meant that an extra long bow ramp had to be added. At 140 ft (43 m) this took up a lot of room inside the ship.

Boxer was laid down at Harland & Wolff's Belfast shipyard on 31 July 1941. She was launched on 12 December 1942 and was completed on 1 August 1943.^[2]

Boxer had only two sister ships, as plans to build more in the United States led instead to a simpler though slower design capable of similar capacity but with a much shallower draught.

Service

In 1944, she was refitted as a fighter direction ship, for use during the Normandy landings in controlling fighter aircraft by ground-controlled interception, then as an "action information organisation" tender^[3] (a radar training ship) in 1946. In 1953 she took part in the Fleet Review to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II,^[4] was placed in reserve in 1956, and scrapped at Barrow-in-Furness in 1958.

Boxer carried the writer/comedian Spike Milligan from North Africa to Italy when he served with the 56th Heavy Regiment Royal Artillery.^[5]

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References

1 2 McCluskie, Tom (2013). The Rise and Fall of Harland and Wolff. Stroud: The History Press. p. 151. ISBN 9780752488615.
↑ Blackman 1953 , p. 56
↑ Navigating and Direction Officers Association
↑ Souvenir Programme, Coronation Review of the Fleet, Spithead, 15th June 1953, HMSO, Gale and Polden
↑ Milligan, Spike (1978) Mussolini, His Part In My Downfall, Hobbs, J. (Ed.), Harmondsworth : Penguin, 288 p., ISBN 0-14-005196-1

Publications

Blackman, Raymond V. B., ed. (1953). Jane's Fighting Ships 1953–54. New York: McGraw-Hill Book Company.
Brown, David K. (2012). Nelson to Vanguard: Warship Design and Development 1923-1945. Barnsley, UK: Seaforth Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84832-149-6.
Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.

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[Tom-1] 1 2 McCluskie, Tom (2013). The Rise and Fall of Harland and Wolff. Stroud: The History Press. p. 151. ISBN 9780752488615.

[jfs53p56-2] Blackman 1953 , p. 56

[3] Navigating and Direction Officers Association

[4] Souvenir Programme, Coronation Review of the Fleet, Spithead, 15th June 1953, HMSO, Gale and Polden

[5] Milligan, Spike (1978) Mussolini, His Part In My Downfall, Hobbs, J. (Ed.), Harmondsworth : Penguin, 288 p., ISBN 0-14-005196-1

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