''Twickenham Ferry'' was a train ferry built in 1934 for the Southern Railway. She served 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 opposi ...

as a

minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

and returned to merchant service post-war, serving until 1974 when she was scrapped.

Description

''Twickenham Ferry'' was one of three ships built to the same design. Her sister ships were and . She was long, with a beam of . She had a depth of and a draught of . She was , , and 1,200 DWT. She was powered by four

Parsons Parsons may refer to: Places In the United States: * Parsons, Kansas, a city * Parsons, Missouri, an unincorporated community * Parsons, Tennessee, a city * Parsons, West Virginia, a town * Camp Parsons, a Boy Scout camp in the state of Washingt ...

turbines A turbine ( or ) (from the Greek , ''tyrbē'', or Latin ''turbo'', meaning vortex) is a rotary mechanical device that extracts energy from a fluid flow and converts it into useful Work (physics), work. The work produced by a turbine can be used ...

, which were built by Parsons. Steam was supplied by boilers made by

Yarrows Ltd Yarrow Shipbuilders Limited (YSL), often styled as simply Yarrows, was a major shipbuilding firm based in the Scotstoun district of Glasgow on the River Clyde. It is now part of BAE Systems Surface Ships, owned by BAE Systems, which has also op ...

, Scotstoun. The four turbines drove twin screw propellers through single reduction gearing and they had a total power output of 948 nhp (3,300 kW). She had a service speed of . ''Twickenham Ferry'' could carry 12 sleeping cars or 40 goods wagons, with space for 25 cars. Accommodation was provided for 500 passengers.

History

''Twickenham Ferry'' was built by Swan, Hunter and Wigham Richardson Ltd as yard number 1446. Launched on 15 March 1934, completion was in July. Jointly owned by the Southern Railway & Angleterre-Lorraine-Alsace, she was built for service on the Dover - Dunkerque route, but initially operated out of

Southampton Southampton () is a port city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. It is located approximately south-west of London and west of Portsmouth. The city forms part of the South Hampshire built-up area, which also covers Po ...

as the new facilities at Dover were not ready. Her port of registry was

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

and the code letters GWTQ were allocated. On 22 September 1936, she was reflagged to

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

. Her port of registry was changed to Dunkerque and her code letters were changed to FOSA. ''Twickenham Ferry'' commenced service between Dover and Dunkerque on 6 October 1936. She served on this route until 25 August 1939. The next day, ''Twickenham Ferry'' was requisitioned by the

Admiralty Admiralty most often refers to: *Admiralty, Hong Kong *Admiralty (United Kingdom), military department in command of the Royal Navy from 1707 to 1964 *The rank of admiral *Admiralty law Admiralty can also refer to: Buildings * Admiralty, Traf ...

as HMS ''Twickenham''. Her port of registry was changed to London and the code letters BCYF were allocated. She was re-allocated the Official Number 163500. She was converted to a

, and initially based at Southampton. She was put into service between

Larne Larne (, , the name of a Gaelic territory) is a town on the east coast of County Antrim, Northern Ireland, with a population of 18,755 at the 2011 Census. It is a major passenger and freight roll-on roll-off port. Larne is administered by Mid ...

and Stranraer from July to December 1940, and again from March 1941 to January 1944. By November 1944, ''Twickenham'' was employed in taking

locomotives A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the ...

to Calais being able to carry 16 locomotives and 16 wagons. She could also carry an ambulance train of 14 carriages and four wagons., with the associated personnel. On 24 January 1945, HMS ''Twickenham'' was involved in a collision with the tug '' Empire Rupert'' off Dover (). ''Empire Rupert'' sank. On 31 October 1945, HMS ''Twickenham'' was returned to Angleterre-Lorraine-Alsace and regained her former name of ''Twickenham Ferry''. She was the first Southern Railway ship to enter Cherbourg post-war. In 1947, ''Twickenham Ferry'' was converted from

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal is formed when ...

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

burning. On the formation of British Railways in 1948, ''Twickenham Ferry'' was registered to the

British Transport Commission The British Transport Commission (BTC) was created by Clement Attlee's post-war Labour government as a part of its nationalisation programme, to oversee railways, canals and road freight transport in Great Britain (Northern Ireland had the se ...

. With the introduction of

IMO Number The IMO number of the International Maritime Organization is a generic term covering two distinct meanings. The IMO ship identification number, is a type of hull number used as a unique ship identifier, and the IMO company and registered owne ...

s, ''Twickenham Ferry'' was allocated the number 5371478. With the introduction of

TOPS Total Operations Processing System (TOPS) is a computer system for managing railway locomotives and rolling stock, known for many years of use in the United Kingdom. TOPS was originally developed between the Southern Pacific Railroad (SP), S ...

in 1968,

Sealink Sealink was a ferry company based in the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1984, operating services to France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Isle of Man, Channel Islands, Isle of Wight and Ireland. Ports served by the company included: Dover, Folkesto ...

ships were classed as locomotives for TOPS purposes, being allocated Class 99. ''Twickenham Ferry'' was allocated 99 006. She was withdrawn from service in 1974 as her boilers were life-expired. Her final day of service was 5 May 1974. On 24 May, she was sold for scrap, arriving on 26 May at San Esteban de Pravia,

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

, where she was scrapped by Stellnortem.

References

External links

Pathé newsreel showing ''Twickenham Ferry''
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Twickenham Ferry 1934 ships Ships built on the River Tyne Ferries of the United Kingdom Steamships of the United Kingdom Ships of British Rail Ships of the Southern Railway (UK) Ferries of France Steamships of France Minesweepers of the United Kingdom Maritime incidents in January 1945 Ships built by Swan Hunter Train ferries