A naval drifter is a boat built along the lines of a commercial fishing drifter but fitted out for naval purposes. The use of naval drifters is paralleled by the use 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 ...

Fishing trawler A fishing trawler is a commercial fishing vessel designed to operate fishing trawls. Trawling is a method of fishing that involves actively dragging or pulling a trawl through the water behind one or more trawlers. Trawls are fishing nets th ...

s were designed to tow heavy trawls, so they were easily adapted to tow minesweepers, with the crew and layout already suited to the task. Drifters were robust boats built, like trawlers, to work in most weather conditions, but designed to deploy and retrieve

drift net Drift netting is a fishing technique where nets, called drift nets, hang vertically in the water column without being anchored to the bottom. The nets are kept vertical in the water by floats attached to a rope along the top of the net and weig ...

s. They were generally smaller and slower than trawlers. If requisitioned by navies, they were typically armed with an anti-submarine gun and depth charges and used to maintain and patrol anti-submarine nets. __NOTOC__

World War I

Like fishing trawlers, 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 ...

requisitioned many fishing drifters for conversion to naval use during

World War I 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 ...

. In addition, 362 naval drifters were ordered to Admiralty specifications (and thus are often referred to as "Admiralty drifters").Gardiner et al., p. 104 Shipyards used to building fishing trawlers or drifters could easily switch to constructing naval versions. As a bonus these drifters could be sold to commercial fishing interests when the war ended. There were two basic types of Admiralty-built drifters, wooden hulled and steel hulled. * The wooden hull vessels displaced 175 tons, were 86 ft (26.2 m) long, with a beam of 19 ft (5.8 m). They had a speed of 9 knots and carried one 6 pounder gun. 91 wooden hull vessels were launched 1918–20, and 100 similar Canadian-built craft were ordered in January 1917. * The steel hull vessels displaced 199 tons, were 86 ft (26.2 m) long, with a beam of 18 ft 6in (5.6 m). They also had a speed of 9 knots and carried a 6 pounder gun. 123 steel-hulled vessels were launched 1917–1920, and 48 others were cancelled. Royal Navy drifters were named like the trawlers were, except for the Canadian-built vessels which were numbered CD 1 to CD 100. During 1917, a fleet of British drifters, escorted by destroyers and light cruisers, maintained a blockade of the wide Strait of Otranto, denying the Austro-Hungarian Navy access to the Mediterranean. On 15 May 1917, the Austro-Hungarian Navy raided the barrage.Halpern, pp. 162–163 The Austro-Hungarians gave most drifter crews warning to abandon ship before opening fire. Some drifter crews chose to fight, and the ''Gowan Lee'' returned fire on the Austro-Hungarian ships. The drifter was heavily damaged, but remained afloat. Skipper Joseph Watt was later awarded the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

for his actions during the battle.Halpern, p. 163 Of the 47 drifters in the barrage at the time, 14 were sunk and 4 were damaged. The lack of sufficient Allied escorts forced the withdrawal of the remaining blockading ships, although only for a short time.Tucker, p. 1357

Notes

References

* *Gardiner R, Gray R and Budzbon, P (1985
''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships, 1906–1921''
Conway. *Halpern, Paul G (1995
''A Naval History of World War I''
Naval Institute Press, Annapolis. * {{DEFAULTSORT:Naval Drifter Nautical terminology Ship types Steamships World War I naval ships of the United Kingdom

World War I

See also

Notes

References