Patrol vessel ''A4'' (french: link=no, Patrouilleur A4) was a small operated by Belgium 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 ...

. Originally built for the British

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 ...

, as HMS ''John Ebbs'', the ship is notable for its role in evacuating Belgian gold reserves to England during the

Battle of Belgium The invasion of Belgium or Belgian campaign (10–28 May 1940), often referred to within Belgium as the 18 Days' Campaign (french: Campagne des 18 jours, nl, Achttiendaagse Veldtocht), formed part of the greater Battle of France, an Military o ...

in May 1940. The success of the operation not only allowed the

Belgian government in exile The Belgian Government in London (french: Gouvernement belge à Londres, nl, Belgische regering in Londen), also known as the Pierlot IV Government, was the government in exile of Belgium between October 1940 and September 1944 during World W ...

to fund its operations but deprived the German occupiers of an important asset to support their war effort. After the Belgian surrender, the vessel and its crew

interned Internment is the imprisonment of people, commonly in large groups, without charges or intent to file charges. The term is especially used for the confinement "of enemy citizens in wartime or of terrorism suspects". Thus, while it can simply ...

themselves in neutral Spain. Both crew and vessel were released in 1946 and ''A4'' was scrapped soon afterwards.

Background

''Pilote 4'' (later renamed ''Patrouilleur A4'') was purchased by the Belgian ''Corps de Marine'' in 1920, having previously served in the British

during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

as HMS ''John Ebbs'' (FY3566). The vessel was a Mersey-class

naval trawler Naval trawlers are vessels built along the lines of a fishing trawler but fitted out for naval purposes; they were widely used during the First and Second World Wars. Some—known in the Royal Navy as "Admiralty trawlers"— were purpose-built to ...

, built by Cochranes in

Selby Selby is a market town and civil parish in the Selby District of North Yorkshire, England, south of York on the River Ouse, with a population at the 2011 census of 14,731. The town was historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire until ...

, North Yorkshire, and was launched on 2 October 1917. Displacing , the vessel was long, and had a draught of . Fitted with engines that were capable of producing , it could travel at between . With a complement of 27, the Belgians armed the ship with two

Maxim machine guns The Maxim gun is a recoil-operated machine gun invented in 1884 by Hiram Stevens Maxim. It was the first fully automatic machine gun in the world. The Maxim gun has been called "the weapon most associated with imperial conquest" by historian M ...

on the

bridge A bridge is a structure built to span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or rail) without blocking the way underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, which is usually somethi ...

and a gun at the

stern The stern is the back or aft-most part of a ship or boat, technically defined as the area built up over the sternpost, extending upwards from the counter rail to the taffrail. The stern lies opposite the bow, the foremost part of a ship. Ori ...

. In 1939, ''A4'' was waiting to be scrapped, but the deteriorating international situation caused by German expansionism led to its reactivation by the

Ministry of National Defence {{unsourced, date=February 2021 A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is an often-used name for the part of a government responsible for matters of defence, found in states ...

. Because of Belgium's neutral status in the early stages of the Second World War, ''A4'' had large Belgian tricolours painted on each side of its hull, as well as the word "BELGIË" (

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

for "Belgium") in white, to prevent it being mistaken for a belligerent ship. After Belgium was invaded by German forces on 10 May 1940, it was not repainted.

Evacuation of Belgian gold

During the interwar period, Belgium had created a gold-based currency, called the Belga, which ran parallel to the

Belgian franc The Belgian franc ( nl, Belgische frank, french: Franc belge, german: Belgischer Franken) was the currency of the Kingdom of Belgium from 1832 until 2002 when the Euro was introduced. It was subdivided into 100 subunits, each known as a in Dutch ...

. The Belga was intended for international trading and meant that the

National Bank of Belgium The National Bank of Belgium (NBB; nl, Nationale Bank van België, french: Banque nationale de Belgique, german: Belgische Nationalbank) has been the central bank of Belgium since 1850. The National Bank of Belgium was established with 100% pr ...

amassed considerable gold reserves, amounting to some by 1940. During the escalating international tensions in the 1930s, the Belgian government began moving large amounts of gold to the United States, Great Britain and Canada, but was forced to retain some gold in the country to maintain the Belga's value. By the time the Germans invaded Belgium in May 1940, there were still of gold left in Belgium, held at the bank's offices in the port of

Ostend Ostend ( nl, Oostende, ; french: link=no, Ostende ; german: link=no, Ostende ; vls, Ostende) is a coastal city and municipality, located in the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It comprises the boroughs of Mariakerk ...

. The only ship available in the area was ''A4'', commanded by Lieutenant Van Vaerenbergh. On 19 May 1940, the vessel was loaded with the gold and, avoiding

Dunkirk Dunkirk (french: Dunkerque ; vls, label=French Flemish, Duunkerke; nl, Duinkerke(n) ; , ;) is a commune in the department of Nord in northern France.Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

'', headed for the British coast, accompanied by the ship ''

P16 p16 (also known as p16INK4a, cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor 2A, CDKN2A, multiple tumor suppressor 1 and numerous other synonyms), is a protein that slows cell division by slowing the progression of the cell cycle from the G1 phase to the S p ...

'' which was carrying refugees. After being transferred from port to port because of concerns for the safety of the cargo during unloading, the gold was landed at

Plymouth Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west. Plymouth ...

on 26 May, two days before the Belgian surrender. The gold was finally deposited at the

Bank of England The Bank of England is the central bank of the United Kingdom and the model on which most modern central banks have been based. Established in 1694 to act as the English Government's banker, and still one of the bankers for the Government of ...

. ''A4'' also carried

Hubert Ansiaux Hubert Ansiaux (Ixelles, 24 November 1908 – Uccle, 9 April 1987) was a governor of the National Bank of Belgium (NBB) from 1957 until 1971. After he graduated from the Solvay Business School, he joined the National Bank of Belgium in 1935. Before ...

, the civil servant charged with overseeing the evacuation of the gold to England and the future Governor of the National Bank. The fact that so much Belgian gold had been rescued before the German occupation allowed the

to finance its own operations, unlike most other exiled governments which had to rely on British financial support.

Aftermath

Since Belgium had officially surrendered on 28 May and no official Belgian government yet existed in England, the crew of ''A4'' took their ship to

Bilbao ) , motto = , image_map = , mapsize = 275 px , map_caption = Interactive map outlining Bilbao , pushpin_map = Spain Basque Country#Spain#Europe , pushpin_map_caption ...

in neutral Spain to avoid having to return to Belgium and become German prisoners of war. They arrived in Spain on 26 June and spent the rest of the war interned. Control of the ship was returned to Belgium in 1946 and it was scrapped in 1948. For his role in the evacuation of the gold, Lieutenant Van Vaerenbergh was awarded the

Order of Leopold II The Order of Leopold II is an order of Belgium and is named in honor of King Leopold II. The decoration was established on 24 August 1900 by Leopold II as Sovereign of the Congo Free State and was in 1908, upon Congo being handed over to Belgi ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:A4 1917 ships Ships built in Selby World War II patrol vessels World War II naval ships of Belgium Ships of the Belgian Navy Naval trawlers Battle of Belgium Economic history of Belgium

Background

Evacuation of Belgian gold

Aftermath

References

Further reading

External links