Coastal Forces of World War II - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Coastal Forces of the Royal Navy

Coastal Forces was a division of the Royal Navy established duringWorld War II under the command of Rear Admiral Coastal Forces. -History:The Royal Navy had previously operated flotillas of small torpedo- and depth-charge-armed craft during the First World WarThe first Headquarters was set up at ...

was a division of the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

established during World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

. It consisted of small coastal defence craft which the Navy designated with names such as: Motor Launch, High Speed Launch, air-sea rescue

Air-sea rescue

Air-sea rescue is the coordinated search and rescue of the survivors of emergency water landings as well as people who have survived the loss of their sea-going vessel. ASR can involve a wide variety of resources including seaplanes, helicopters, submarines, rescue boats and ships...

, Motor Gun Boat and Motor Torpedo Boat. It did not include minesweepers, trawlers or landing craft. Other Navies operated equivalent boats, but classified and named them somewhat differently.

This article attempts to pull together, for comparative purposes, some statistics concerning the coastal forces of different navies. It starts with the above British definition of "Coastal Forces" and attempts to identify the equivalent boats in other navies.

Coastal Forces of Britain

Main article Coastal Forces of the Royal Navy
Coastal Forces of the Royal Navy
Coastal Forces was a division of the Royal Navy established duringWorld War II under the command of Rear Admiral Coastal Forces. -History:The Royal Navy had previously operated flotillas of small torpedo- and depth-charge-armed craft during the First World WarThe first Headquarters was set up at ...

Type	Designation	Built	Lost	Designed purpose
Motor Launch Motor Launch A Motor Launch is a small military vessel in British navy service. It was designed for harbour defence and submarine chasing or for armed high speed air-sea rescue.... es	ML, HDML ASR			Harbour defense Harbour Defence Motor Launch The Harbour Defence Motor Launch was a British small motor vessel of the Second World War.The HDML was designed by W J Holt at the Admiralty in early 1939. During the war, 486 HDMLs were constructed, mainly by yacht builders, in the United Kingdom and a number of other allied countries... and submarine chasing Submarine chaser A submarine chaser is a small and fast naval vessel specially intended for anti-submarine warfare. Although similar vessels were designed and used by many nations, this designation was most famously used by ships built by the United States of America... or for armed high speed Air Sea Rescue Search and rescue Search and rescue is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger.The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, mostly based upon terrain considerations... .
Motor Gun Boat Motor Gun Boat Motor Gun Boat was a Royal Navy term for a small military vessel of the Second World War. They were physically similar to the Motor Torpedo Boats but equipped with a mix of guns instead of torpedoes. Their small size and high speed made them difficult targets for E-boats or torpedo bombers, but... s	MGB
Steam Gun Boat Steam Gun Boat The Steam Gun Boat was a Royal Navy term for a class of small naval vessels used during the Second World War. The class consisted of nine gun boats, powered by steam, and built from 1940 to 1942 for the Coastal Forces of the Royal Navy.... s	SGB	7	1	Hunting down German E-boats
Motor Torpedo Boat Motor Torpedo Boat Motor Torpedo Boat was the name given to fast torpedo boats by the Royal Navy, and the Royal Canadian Navy.The capitalised term is generally used for the Royal Navy boats and abbreviated to "MTB"... s	MTB

Coastal Forces of the United States

Type	Designation	Built	Lost	Designed purpose
PT boat PT boat PT Boats were a variety of motor torpedo boat , a small, fast vessel used by the United States Navy in World War II to attack larger surface ships. The PT boat squadrons were nicknamed "the mosquito fleet". The Japanese called them "Devil Boats".The original pre–World War I torpedo boats were... s	PT-
Submarine chaser Submarine chaser A submarine chaser is a small and fast naval vessel specially intended for anti-submarine warfare. Although similar vessels were designed and used by many nations, this designation was most famously used by ships built by the United States of America... s

Coastal Forces of Germany

Type	Designation	Built	Lost	Designed purpose
S-boot (E-boats)	S-

Coastal Forces of Italy

Type	Designation	Built	Lost	Designed purpose
MAS-boat MAS (boat) Motoscafo Armato Silurante , commonly abbreviated as MAS was a class of fast torpedo armed vessel used by the Regia Marina during World War I and World War II...

Post war

Post war there seemed to be no need for small coastal force vessels. They were generally withdrawn and their functions taken over by larger corvette

Corvette

A corvette is a small, maneuverable, lightly armed warship, originally smaller than a frigate and larger than a coastal patrol craft or fast attack craft , although many recent designs resemble frigates in size and role...

s, frigate

Frigate

A frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...

s, and destroyers. A few remained in service with Third World

Third World

The term Third World arose during the Cold War to define countries that remained non-aligned with either capitalism and NATO , or communism and the Soviet Union...

navies.

In time, the need for smaller vessels re-asserted itself, as in this experience of the Royal Australian Navy

Royal Australian Navy

The Royal Australian Navy is the naval branch of the Australian Defence Force. Following the Federation of Australia in 1901, the ships and resources of the separate colonial navies were integrated into a national force: the Commonwealth Naval Forces...

:
Coastal boats reappeared in navies around the world now generally adapted to the need to "patrol" and designated as "patrol boat

Patrol boat

A patrol boat is a relatively small naval vessel generally designed for coastal defense duties.There have been many designs for patrol boats. They may be operated by a nation's navy, coast guard, or police force, and may be intended for marine and/or estuarine or river environments...

s".

Surviving craft

Following is a list of notable surviving coastal craft from World War II.

Vessel	Country	Type	Design	Built	In the care of	Notes
HNoMS Hitra HNoMS Hitra The HNoMS Hitra is a Royal Norwegian Navy submarine chaser that saw action during World War II. She is named after the Norwegian island of Hitra.-Wartime service:...	Norway	submarine chaser				Only remaining World War II submarine chaser with intact armament
S-130	Germany	E-boat E-boat E-boats was the designation for Motor Torpedo Boats of the German Navy during World War II. It is commonly held that the E stood for Enemy....		1943	British Military Powerboat Trust	Only surviving German E-boot. Participated in Exercise Tiger Exercise Tiger Exercise Tiger, or Operation Tiger, were the code names for a full-scale rehearsal in 1944 for the D-Day invasion of Normandy. During the exercise, an Allied convoy was attacked, resulting in the deaths of 946 American servicemen.... and attacks on the D-day D-Day D-Day is a term often used in military parlance to denote the day on which a combat attack or operation is to be initiated. "D-Day" often represents a variable, designating the day upon which some significant event will occur or has occurred; see Military designation of days and hours for similar... invasion fleet.
PT 617	US	PT-boat	80-foot Elco		Battleship Cove Museum	Only completely restored 80-foot Elco PT-boat in existence
PT 796	US	PT-boat	78-foot Higgins		Battleship Cove Museum	restored

External links

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