Coastal Forces of the Royal Navy - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Coastal Forces 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 under the command of Rear Admiral

Rear Admiral

Rear admiral is a naval commissioned officer rank above that of a commodore and captain, and below that of a vice admiral. It is generally regarded as the lowest of the "admiral" ranks, which are also sometimes referred to as "flag officers" or "flag ranks"...

Coastal Forces.

History

The Royal Navy had previously operated flotilla

Flotilla

A flotilla , or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet. A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same class of warship, such as frigates, destroyers, torpedo boats, submarines, gunboats, or minesweepers...

s of small torpedo- and depth-charge-armed craft (Coastal Motor Boat

Coastal Motor Boat

During the First World War, following a suggestion from three junior officers of the Harwich destroyer force that small motor boats carrying a torpedo might be capable of travelling over the protective minefields and attacking ships of the German Navy at anchor in their bases, the Admiralty gave...

s) during the First World War

The first Headquarters was set up at in 1940. The Chief Staff Officer to the Admiral was Augustus Agar

Augustus Agar

Captain Augustus Willington Shelton Agar, VC, DSO, RN was a noted Royal Navy officer in both World War I and World War II and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.In...

Victoria Cross

The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....

who had commanded Coastal Motor Boats during the First World War and British operations in the Baltic in support of the White Russian forces.

Post war MTBs and MGBs were all renamed as fast patrol boats.
The Brave class

Brave class fast patrol boat

The Brave fast patrol boats were a class of patrol boats that were the last of their type for the Royal Navy Coastal Forces division.They followed the Bold class, which were a pair of experimental turbojet powered boats...

fast patrol boats were the last to be built for the Coastal Forces and the Coastal Forces were disbanded as a separate unit and their last base decommissioned in 1956.

The last sailors to wear the 'HM Coastal Forces' cap tally were the ships companies of HMS Dittisham and HMS Flintham on being taken out of reserve in 1968, before individual cap tallies for these inshore minesweepers had been manufactured and issued.

Units and craft

It included the following types of coastal defence craft:

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

At the outbreak of war there were three flotilla

Flotilla

s of Motor Torpedo "short boats" between 60 ft (18.3 m) and 72 feet (21.9 m) long. These could typically maintain 40 knots and were armed with two torpedo tube

Torpedo tube

A torpedo tube is a device for launching torpedoes. There are two main types of torpedo tube: underwater tubes fitted to submarines and some surface ships, and deck-mounted units installed aboard surface vessels...

s. They were built mainly by the British Power Boat Company

British Power Boat Company

The British Power Boat Company was a British manufacturer of motor boats, particularly racing boats and later military patrol boats.It was formed on 30 September 1927 when Hubert Scott-Paine bought and renamed the Hythe Shipyard with the intention of transforming it into one of the most modern mass...

, Vospers

Vosper & Company

Vosper & Company, often referred to simply as Vospers, was a British shipbuilding company based in Portsmouth, England.-History:The Company was established in 1871 by Herbert Edward Vosper, concentrating on ship repair and refitting work....

and Thornycroft

John I. Thornycroft & Company

John I. Thornycroft & Company Limited, usually known simply as Thornycroft was a British shipbuilding firm started by John Isaac Thornycroft in the 19th century.-History:...

.

In 1940 a modified craft, the 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...

, was introduced. These were armed with weapons such as the 0.5 in Vickers machine gun

Vickers .50 machine gun

The Vickers .50 machine gun, also known as the 'Vickers .50' was basically the same as the Vickers machine gun but scaled up to use a larger calibre round.-Mark II, IV and V:...

, 2 pounder "pom pom"

QF 2 pounder naval gun

The 2-pounder gun, officially designated the QF 2-pounder and universally known as the pom-pom, was a 1.575 inch British autocannon, used famously as an anti-aircraft gun by the Royal Navy. The name came from the sound that the original models make when firing...

, a single or twin 20 mm Oerlikon

Oerlikon 20 mm cannon

The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original design by Reinhold Becker of Germany, very early in World War I, and widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others...

and ultimately the autoloader fitted 6-pounder gun

Ordnance QF 6 pounder

The Ordnance Quick-Firing 6-pounder 7 cwt, or just 6 pounder, was a British 57 mm gun, their primary anti-tank gun during the middle of World War II, as well as the main armament for a number of armoured fighting vehicles...

.

It was also apparent that larger craft were needed as the operational capability of the short boats was too restricted by sea conditions. Fairmile

Fairmile Marine

Fairmile Marine was a British boat building company founded in 1939 by the car manufacturer Noel Macklin.Macklin used the garage at his home at Cobham Fairmile in Surrey for manufacturing assembly which is why the boats he designed came to be called Fairmiles....

designed a series of larger coastal craft, up to 120 feet (36.6 m) long. The Fairmile A Type

Fairmile A motor launch

The Fairmile A motor launch was a type of Motor Launch designed by Fairmile Marine for the Royal Navy.Shortly before the Second World War the British industrialist Noel Macklin submitted to the Admiralty an innovative plan for the series production of a motor launch...

and B Type

Fairmile B motor launch

The Fairmile B motor launch was a type of Motor Launch built by Fairmile Marine during the Second World War for the Royal Navy for coastal operations.-Design:...

were Motor Launches and the C Type

Fairmile C motor gun boat

The Fairmile C motor gun boat was a type of Motor Gun Boat designed by Norman Hart of Fairmile Marine for the Royal Navy. An intermediate design, twenty-four boats were built in 1941 receiving the designations MGB 312 - 335.-Design:...

was a Motor Gun Boat.

In 1943 the Fairmile D Type

Fairmile D motor torpedo boat

The Fairmile D motor torpedo boat was a type of British Motor Torpedo Boat designed by Bill Holt and conceived by Fairmile Marine for the Royal Navy....

appeared. It was a motor torpedo boat – nicknamed the Dog Boat – and was designed as a counter to the German E-boat. It could be fitted as either a gun or a torpedo boat, so the designation MGB disappeared and all the craft were labelled MTBs. It was a good sea boat and could maintain 30 knots (58.8 km/h) at full load. The later D types carried four 18 inches (457.2 mm) torpedo tubes.

The Vosper Type I MTB appeared in 1943. This was a 73 feet (22.3 m) craft with four 18 inches (457.2 mm) torpedo tubes and was capable of 40 knots (78.4 km/h) maximum.

Operations

British "Coastal craft operated mainly in the English Channel

English Channel

The English Channel , often referred to simply as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates southern England from northern France, and joins the North Sea to the Atlantic. It is about long and varies in width from at its widest to in the Strait of Dover...

and North Sea

North Sea

In the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...

waters, especially in the build up to the Normandy invasion of 1944. They were also used in the Mediterranean and Norwegian campaign

Norwegian Campaign

The Norwegian Campaign was a military campaign that was fought in Norway during the Second World War between the Allies and Germany, after the latter's invasion of the country. In April 1940, the United Kingdom and France came to Norway's aid with an expeditionary force...

s." They raided St Nazaire and Dieppe

Dieppe Raid

The Dieppe Raid, also known as the Battle of Dieppe, Operation Rutter or later on Operation Jubilee, during the Second World War, was an Allied attack on the German-occupied port of Dieppe on the northern coast of France on 19 August 1942. The assault began at 5:00 AM and by 10:50 AM the Allied...

. They were used to attack German convoys and their E-Boat escorts, "carry out clandestine raids and landings and pick up secret agents in Norway and Brittany." "The coastal craft were manned by various Allied nationalities including Dutch, Norwegian, Canadian, Australian and New Zealanders."

A number of Captain-class frigates

Captain class frigate

The Captain class were 78 frigates of the Royal Navy, constructed in the United States, launched in 1942–1943 and delivered to the United Kingdom under the provisions of Lend-Lease. They served in World War II as convoy escorts, anti-submarine warfare vessels and coastal forces control frigates...

were adapted to operate as coastal force control frigates. These control frigates were involved in the destruction of at least 26 E-Boats,

By 1944 Coastal Forces numbered 3,000 officers and 22,000 ratings. Altogether there were 2,000 British Coastal Forces craft. Affectionately known as the Navy's "Little Ships", they fought over 780 actions and sank 800 enemy vessels, including 48 E-boats and 32 midget submarines. They fired 1169 torpedoes, shot down 32 enemy aircraft and carried out many mine laying operations. 170 of the "Little Ships" were sunk or destroyed.

Bases

The Coastal Forces bases were around the British coast and at major locations overseas.
South coast

HMS Attack, Portland
Isle of Portland
The Isle of Portland is a limestone tied island, long by wide, in the English Channel. Portland is south of the resort of Weymouth, forming the southernmost point of the county of Dorset, England. A tombolo over which runs the A354 road connects it to Chesil Beach and the mainland. Portland and...
HMS Bee then HMS Grasshopper, Weymouth
HMS Bee, Weymouth 1942-43
HMS Bee, Holyhead
Holyhead
Holyhead is the largest town in the county of Anglesey in the North Wales. It is also a major port adjacent to the Irish Sea serving Ireland....

1943-1945
HMS Black Bat, Plymouth
Plymouth
Plymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
HMS Hornet Haslar, Gosport
Gosport
Gosport is a town, district and borough situated on the south coast of England, within the county of Hampshire. It has approximately 80,000 permanent residents with a further 5,000-10,000 during the summer months...
HMS Tadpole, Poole
Poole
Poole is a large coastal town and seaport in the county of Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester, and Bournemouth adjoins Poole to the east. The Borough of Poole was made a unitary authority in 1997, gaining administrative independence from Dorset County Council...
HMS Wasp, Dover
Dover
Dover is a town and major ferry port in the home county of Kent, in South East England. It faces France across the narrowest part of the English Channel, and lies south-east of Canterbury; east of Kent's administrative capital Maidstone; and north-east along the coastline from Dungeness and Hastings...

Coastal Forces

West coast

HMS Ferret II
HMS Ferret (shore establishment 1940)
HMS Ferret was a shore establishment and naval base of the Royal Navy during the Second World War, located in Derry. It was given a ship's name as a stone frigate.-History:...

Londonderry
Derry
Derry or Londonderry is the second-biggest city in Northern Ireland and the fourth-biggest city on the island of Ireland. The name Derry is an anglicisation of the Irish name Doire or Doire Cholmcille meaning "oak-wood of Colmcille"...

, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
HMS Seahawkhttp://people.aapt.net.au/~jburchell/Index.html Ardrishaig
Ardrishaig
Ardrishaig is a lochside village at the southern entrance to the Crinan Canal in west Scotland, in Argyll. Ardrishaig had 1,283 inhabitants in 2001....

, Argyll
Argyll
Argyll , archaically Argyle , is a region of western Scotland corresponding with most of the part of ancient Dál Riata that was located on the island of Great Britain, and in a historical context can be used to mean the entire western coast between the Mull of Kintyre and Cape Wrath...

http://www.mbriscoe.me.uk/stchristopher.html Fort William
Fort William, Scotland
Fort William is the second largest settlement in the highlands of Scotland and the largest town: only the city of Inverness is larger.Fort William is a major tourist centre with Glen Coe just to the south, Aonach Mòr to the north and Glenfinnan to the west, on the Road to the Isles...

, Inverness-shire
Inverness-shire
The County of Inverness or Inverness-shire was a general purpose county of Scotland, with the burgh of Inverness as the county town, until 1975, when, under the Local Government Act 1973, the county area was divided between the two-tier Highland region and the unitary Western Isles. The Highland...

East Coast, Harwich

Harwich

Harwich is a town in Essex, England and one of the Haven ports, located on the coast with the North Sea to the east. It is in the Tendring district. Nearby places include Felixstowe to the northeast, Ipswich to the northwest, Colchester to the southwest and Clacton-on-Sea to the south...

HMS Beehive, Felixstowe
Felixstowe
Felixstowe is a seaside town on the North Sea coast of Suffolk, England. The town gives its name to the nearby Port of Felixstowe, which is the largest container port in the United Kingdom and is owned by Hutchinson Ports UK...
HMS Midge, Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth
Great Yarmouth, often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk, England. It is at the mouth of the River Yare, east of Norwich.It has been a seaside resort since 1760, and is the gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the sea...
HMS Minos II then HMS Mantis, Lowestoft
Lowestoft
Lowestoft is a town in the English county of Suffolk. The town is on the North Sea coast and is the most easterly point of the United Kingdom. It is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and south-east of Norwich...
HMS Sandfly, Peterhead
Peterhead
Peterhead is a town in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It is Aberdeenshire's biggest settlement , with a population of 17,947 at the 2001 Census and estimated to have fallen to 17,330 by 2006....
HMS Flora II, Invergordon
Invergordon
Invergordon is a town and port in Easter Ross, in Ross and Cromarty, Highland, Scotland.-History:The town is well known for the Invergordon Mutiny of 1931. More recently it was also known for the repair of oil rigs which used to be lined up in the Cromarty Firth on which the town is situated...
HMS Flora III, Invergordon

Mediterranean

HMS Gregale, Malta
Malta
Malta , officially known as the Republic of Malta , is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, south of Sicily, east of Tunisia and north of Libya, with Gibraltar to the west and Alexandria to the east.Malta covers just over in...

, HMS Regea, Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...

, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...
HMS Razorbill, Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...

, Algiers
Algiers
' is the capital and largest city of Algeria. According to the 1998 census, the population of the city proper was 1,519,570 and that of the urban agglomeration was 2,135,630. In 2009, the population was about 3,500,000...

Indo-china

HMS Cheetah, Bombay (Royal Indian Navy
Royal Indian Navy
The Royal Indian Navy was the naval force of British India. Along with the Presidency armies and the later British Indian Army it comprised the Armed Forces of British India....

)

Other

HMS Argyll, Newhaven, Sussex
HMS Beaver II, Immingham
Immingham
Immingham is a town in North East Lincolnshire, located on the south bank of the Humber Estuary...
HMS Britannia III, Dartmouth
Dartmouth, Devon
Dartmouth is a town and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is a tourist destination set on the banks of the estuary of the River Dart, which is a long narrow tidal ria that runs inland as far as Totnes...
HMS Cicala, Dartmouth
HMS Claverhouse, Leith
Leith
-South Leith v. North Leith:Up until the late 16th century Leith , comprised two separate towns on either side of the river....
HMS Dartmouth II, Dartmouth
HMS Fervent, Ramsgate
Ramsgate
Ramsgate is a seaside town in the district of Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century and is a member of the ancient confederation of Cinque Ports. It has a population of around 40,000. Ramsgate's main attraction is its coastline and its main...
HMS Forte IV, Falmouth
Falmouth, Cornwall
Falmouth is a town, civil parish and port on the River Fal on the south coast of Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It has a total resident population of 21,635.Falmouth is the terminus of the A39, which begins some 200 miles away in Bath, Somerset....
HMS Forward II, Newhaven
HMS Fox Lerwick
Lerwick
Lerwick is the capital and main port of the Shetland Islands, Scotland, located more than 100 miles off the north coast of mainland Scotland on the east coast of the Shetland Mainland...

Commonwealth coastal forces

Although British Commonwealth

Commonwealth of Nations

The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...

coastal forces operated independently from Britain, they used similar vessels:

Coastal forces of	Type	Built
Canada	Fairmile B motor launch Fairmile B motor launch The Fairmile B motor launch was a type of Motor Launch built by Fairmile Marine during the Second World War for the Royal Navy for coastal operations.-Design:... Fairmile D motor torpedo boat Fairmile D motor torpedo boat The Fairmile D motor torpedo boat was a type of British Motor Torpedo Boat designed by Bill Holt and conceived by Fairmile Marine for the Royal Navy.... BPB Motor Torpedo Boat	80 10 11
Australia	Harbour Defence Motor Launch 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... Fairmile B motor launch Fairmile B motor launch The Fairmile B motor launch was a type of Motor Launch built by Fairmile Marine during the Second World War for the Royal Navy for coastal operations.-Design:...	31 35
New Zealand	Harbour Defence Motor Launch 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... Fairmile B motor launch Fairmile B motor launch The Fairmile B motor launch was a type of Motor Launch built by Fairmile Marine during the Second World War for the Royal Navy for coastal operations.-Design:...	16 12

Surviving craft

Vessel	Description	Built	Builder	In the care of	Condition
HDML 1387 Medusa	Harbour Defence Launch which took part in the Normandy landings.	1943	R.A.Newman & sons	Medusa Trust	restored to original condition
MTB102	prototype for WW2 MTBs	1937	Vosper	MTB102 Trust	still seaworthy
MTB 331	55 ft (16.8 m) stepped hull motor torpedo boat - sole survivor	1941	Thornycroft	British Military Powerboat Trust	Intention to get her seaworthy
MGB 81	71.5 ft (21.8 m) Motor Gun Boat	1942	British Power Boat Company	British Military Powerboat Trust	fully operational
HSL 102	64 ft (19.5 m) High Speed Launch, formerly RAF	1936	British Power Boat Company		fully operational
MTB 71	60 ft (18.3 m) Motor Torpedo Boat	1940	Vosper		static exhibit

Some surviving motor launches in British waters were taken on as pleasure boats and a number of them are on the National Register of Historic Vessels

National Historic Ships Committee

The UK's Advisory Committee on National Historic Ships was established in 2006 as a non-departmental public body reporting to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport with a specific remit to advise the Secretary of State and other public bodies on ship preservation and funding...

External links

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