The Vosper 73 foot Motor Torpedo Boat was a mid-twentieth century British
motor torpedo boat (MTB) designed by
Vospers
Vosper & Company, often referred to simply as Vospers, was a British shipbuilding company based in Portsmouth, England.
History
The Company was established in 1871 by Herbert Edward Vosper, concentrating on ship repair and refitting work.
By t ...
that served in the Royal Navy
Coastal Forces during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
At long they were considered small boats compared to longer designs such as the
Fairmile D
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 ...
.
Development
The design came about from a requirement that British motor torpedo boats should be better able to fight other small craft, which was the job of
motor gun boat
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. ...
s (MGB). To this end Vospers built on their existing
70 foot designs, and the design was trialled with MTB 379. Sixteen (MTB 380-345) were ordered in 1943. A second contract for five more (MTB 523-527) with heavier gun armament was placed in December.
The boats carried four
18-inch torpedo tubes as their major offensive armament along with
Oerlikon 20 mm cannon and some defensive armament (two twin
Vickers K machine guns, one either side) for protection against enemy aircraft. The type II gave up two torpedo tubes, but gained a
QF 6 pounder gun which displaced the Oerlikon to the
aft
"Aft", in nautical terminology, is an adjective or adverb meaning towards the stern (rear) of the ship, aircraft or spacecraft, when the frame of reference is within the ship, headed at the fore. For example, "Able Seaman Smith; lie aft!" or "Wh ...
deck. This made it more capable of performing the MGB role.
Service
The first of the type Is entered service in 1944 but the type II wasn't introduced before the end of the Second World War.
Of the 29 built to this design none survives, although a slightly earlier model 60 ft example has been saved and resides at the
Imperial War Museum Duxford.
MTB382 was sold (minus the three Packard engines) in 1947 and converted into a houseboat, berthed on the Chelmer & Blackwater canal at Heybridge Basin, Essex. She was renamed 'M.Y. Vixen' and remained in use as such until late 1953. She lay empty in the canal through the 1953 east-coast storm and tide-surge which broke the banks of the canal, but left the flat planing-hull quite unaffected. All attempts to sell the boat thereafter failed, so she was subsequently broken up for scrap over the next year or so on the mud-flats of the River Blackwater outside the Heybridge Basin sea-lock.
Notes
References
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External links
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Boat types
Motor torpedo boats of the Royal Navy
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