The Isles-class trawlers were a class of

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 ...

used by 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 ...

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the Navy, naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack s ...

and Royal New Zealand Navy during

World War II 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 ...

. The type comprised 197 vessels built between 1939 and 1945 in the nearly identical Isles,

Dance Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...

Tree In botany, a tree is a perennial plant with an elongated stem, or trunk, usually supporting branches and leaves. In some usages, the definition of a tree may be narrower, including only woody plants with secondary growth, plants that are ...

and Shakespearian classes. Generally similar to the Castle class naval trawlers of 1916-18, though somewhat larger, they were mainly used on minesweeping and harbour defence duties. Most were armed with one

12-pounder gun 12-pounder gun or 12-pdr, usually denotes a gun which fired a projectile of approximately 12 pounds. Guns of this type include: *12-pounder long gun, the naval muzzle-loader of the Age of Sail *Canon de 12 de Vallière, French cannon of 1732 *Cano ...

(76mm) and three or four

20 mm Oerlikon The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original German Becker Type M2 20 mm cannon design that appeared very early in World War I. It was widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others, with various models emplo ...

AA guns with 30

depth charge A depth charge is an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) weapon. It is intended to destroy a submarine by being dropped into the water nearby and detonating, subjecting the target to a powerful and destructive Shock factor, hydraulic shock. Most depth ...

s. In the Dance class a 4-inch AA gun (102 mm) was fitted in place of the 12-pdr, and there were six 20 mm Oerlikons in ''Annet'', ''Bressay'', ''Damsay'', ''Fiaray'', ''Foulness'' and ''Lindisfarne''. Four of the trawlers were given 'Bird' names when converted to controlled minelayers in 1943-44: ''Blackbird'' (M15), ''Dabchick'' (M22), ''Stonechat'' (M25) and ''Whitethroat'' (M03). A total of 23 of these trawlers were lost during the war. Six trawlers were loaned to Canada in 1942-45 and five to Norway in 1943-45. Postwar, 17 of the trawlers were disarmed as wreck disposal vessels: ''Bardsey'' (DV13), ''Bern'' (DV4), ''Caldy'' (DV5) ''Coll'' (DV6), ''Earraid'' (DV7), ''Fetlar'' (DV8), ''Flatholm'' (DV9), ''Graemsay'' (DV10), ''Lindisfarne'' (DV11), ''Lundy'' (DV12), ''Neave'' (DV14), ''Scalpay'' (DV15), ''Skomer'' (DV16), ''Steepholm'' (DV17), ''Switha'' (DV18), ''Tiree'' (DV19), and ''Trondra'' (DV20). At least five were employed as

danlayer A danlayer was a type of vessel assigned to minesweeping flotillas during and immediately after World War II. They were usually small trawlers, fitted for the purpose of laying dans. A dan is a marker buoy which consists of a long pole moored to ...

s (laying and retrieving dan buoys during minesweeping operations): ''Imersay'' (J422), ''Sandray'' (J424), ''Shillay'' (J426), ''Sursay'' (J427) and ''Tocogay'' (J451). After decommissioning, ''Switha'' and ''Coll'' were converted to oil tank cleaning vessels for dockyard service in 1949-50. By 1949 there remained in service of this type 31 trawlers and four controlled minelayers in the Royal Navy, one controlled minelayer in the Royal Canadian Navy, and four trawlers in the Royal New Zealand Navy. An additional 16 were in service in the

Italian Navy "Fatherland and Honour" , patron = , colors = , colors_label = , march = ( is the return of soldiers to their barrack, or sailors to their ship after a ...

and six in the Portuguese Navy.Francis E. McMurtrie and Raymond V.B. Blackman (eds.), ''Jane's Fighting Ships 1949-50'', pp. 62, 63, 92, 94, 217, 258. New York: The McGraw-Hill Book Company, 1949. Most of the surviving Royal Navy examples were discarded in the 1950s, but a few remained until the 1960s. Two acquired postwar by the Federal German Navy remained in service as training vessels well into the 1970s, with one, ''Trave'' (ex-''Dochet''), resold to Turkey for further service in 1977.

Builders

*Ardrossan Dockyard Company, Ardrossan, UK *George Brown & Company (Marine) Ltd., Greenock, UK *Cochrane & Sons, Ltd., Selby, UK *Collingwood Shipyards, Collingwood, Ontario, Canada * Cook, Welton & Gemmell, Beverley, UK *

John Crown & Sons Ltd John Crown & Sons Ltd, was a British shipbuilding company founded in 1847 and based on the River Wear, Sunderland. History In its centenary year the shipyard was acquired by J.L. Thompson & Sons Ships built by John Crown & Sons Ltd See a ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

, UK * G.T. Davie & Sons, Lauzon, Quebec, Canada * Ferguson Bros. Ltd., Port Glasgow, UK *

Fleming & Ferguson Fleming and Ferguson was a Scottish marine engineering and shipbuilding company that traded between 1877 and 1969. History 1877–1914 William Y. Fleming and Peter Ferguson (1840–1911) founded the company in Paisley, Scotland in 1877, making ...

, Paisley, UK *Goole Shipbuilding & Repair Company, Goole, UK *Alexander Hall & Company, Aberdeen, UK *

Hall, Russell & Company Hall, Russell & Company, Limited was a shipbuilder based in Aberdeen, Scotland. History Brothers James and William Hall, Thomas Russell, a Glasgow engineer, and James Cardno Couper founded the company in 1864 to build steam engines and boile ...

, Aberdeen, UK * A. & J. Inglis, Glasgow, UK *Kingston Shipyards,

Kingston, Ontario Kingston is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern end of Lake Ontario, at the beginning of the St. Lawrence River and at the mouth of the Cataraqui River (south end of the Rideau Canal). The city is midway between Toro ...

*John Lewis & Sons, Aberdeen, UK *Midland Shipyards,

Midland, Ontario Midland is a town located on Georgian Bay in Simcoe County, Ontario, Canada. It is part of the Huronia/Wendat region of Central Ontario. Located at the southern end of Georgian Bay's 30,000 Islands, Midland is the economic centre of the region, ...

, Canada * Henry Robb Ltd., Leith, UK *

Smiths Dock Company Smith's Dock Company, Limited, often referred to simply as Smith's Dock, was a British shipbuilding company. History The company was originally established by Thomas Smith who bought William Rowe's shipyard at St. Peter's in Newcastle upon Tyne ...

Ltd., South Bank-on-Tees, UK

Ships in class

Royal Navy

The following 21 trawlers may be described as comprising the Repeat Isles class:

Royal Canadian Navy

Royal New Zealand Navy

References