The Fairmile C motor gun boat was a type of
motor gunboat
The motor gun boat (MGB) was a small, high-speed British military vessel of the Second World War, which was armed with a mix of guns, in contrast to the physically similar motor torpedo boat (MTB), whose main offensive weapon were torpedoes. ...
designed by Norman Hart of
Fairmile Marine
Fairmile Marine was a British boat building company founded in 1939 by the car manufacturer Noel Macklin.
Macklin used the garage at his home at Cobham Fairmile in Surrey for manufacturing assembly which is why the boats he designed came to ...
for the
Royal Navy
The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...
. An intermediate design, twenty-four boats were built in 1941 receiving the designations MGB 312–335.
Design
The Fairmile type C was a reuse of the hull form of the
type A but with the lessons learned from the type A incorporated in terms of steering and deck layout.
Service
Five boats of the twenty-four built were lost to enemy action.
The class was mainly involved in close escort work with east coast convoys, and some boats were engaged in clandestine operations. MGB 314 took part in
Operation ''Chariot'', the daring raid on the St Nazaire docks (the only facility on the axis-held Atlantic coast suitable to refit s).
Only two survive to this day, one at
Hayling Island
Hayling Island is an island off the south coast of England, in the borough of Havant in the county of Hampshire, east of Portsmouth.
History
An Iron Age shrine in the north of Hayling Island was later developed into a Roman temple in the 1st c ...
and the other in
Bembridge
Bembridge is a village and civil parish located on the easternmost point of the Isle of Wight. It had a population of 3,848 according to the 2001 census of the United Kingdom, leading to the implausible claim by some residents that Bembridge ...
Harbour,
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...
, although now sunk and due to be broken up 2018. A third survived in Shoreham until 2002.
File:The Royal Navy during the Second World War A7449.jpg, ''MGB 328'' (nearest camera) and ''MGB 330'' off the coast near Dover
File:Mgb 316 FL16320.jpg, ''MGB 316'' at speed
File:Mgb 316 FL22418.jpg, ''MGB 316'' at rest
See also
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Fairmile A motor launch
The Fairmile A motor launch was a type of motor launch designed by Fairmile Marine for the Royal Navy.
Development
Shortly before the Second World War the British industrialist Noel Macklin submitted to the Admiralty an innovative plan for the ...
*
Fairmile B motor launch
The Fairmile Type-B motor launch was a type of motor launch (often referred to as MLs) built by British boatbuilder Fairmile Marine and others during the Second World War for the Royal Navy for coastal operations.
Design
While the Type A had b ...
*
Fairmile D motor torpedo boat
The Fairmile D motor torpedo boat was a type of British motor torpedo boat (MTB) and motor gunboat (MGB)Reynolds, Leonard C. ''Dog Boats at War: Royal Navy D Class MTBs and MGBs, 1939–1945.'' 2000. designed by Bill Holt and conceived by Fairm ...
*
Fairmile H landing craft
The Fairmile H Landing Craft were British landing craft of the Second World War. Initially designed for commando type raids from a base in Britain as a way of probing enemy defenses and tying down additional troops, some were converted into fi ...
*
Steam Gun Boat
*
Coastal Forces of the Royal Navy
Coastal Forces was a division of the Royal Navy initially established during World War I, and then again in World War II under the command of Rear-Admiral, Coastal Forces. It remained active until the last Minesweeper (ship), minesweepers to wea ...
Notes
References
*
John Lambert John Lambert may refer to:
*John Lambert (martyr) (died 1538), English Protestant martyred during the reign of Henry VIII
*John Lambert (general) (1619–1684), Parliamentary general in the English Civil War
*John Lambert of Creg Clare (''fl.'' c. ...
and Al Ross, ''Allied Coastal Forces of World War Two, Volume I : Fairmile designs and US Submarine Chasers'' 1990, Conway Maritime Press
External links
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National Historic Ships
{{WWIICoastalForces
Military boats
Gunboat classes
Gunboats of the Royal Navy
Ship classes of the Royal Navy