HMS Melton

HMS Melton was a Racecourse-class minesweeper of the Royal Navy. The Racecourse class comprised 32 paddlewheel coastal minesweeping sloops.

History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Melton
NamesakeMelton Racecourse, Leicestershire
BuilderWilliam Hamilton and Company
LaunchedMarch 1916
FateSold into civilian service in 1927
United Kingdom
NameQueen of Thanet
OwnerNew Medway Steam Packet Co.
Acquired1929
FateRequisitioned by Admiralty 1939
United Kingdom
NameHMS Queen of Thanet
Commissioned1939
Decommissioned1946
FateReleased back to civilian service
United Kingdom
Name
  • Queen of Thanet (1946 - 1949)
  • Solent Queen (1949 - 1951)
Owner
FateScrapped after fire in 1951
General characteristics
Class and typeRacecourse-class minesweeper
Displacement810 long tons (823 t)
Length235 ft (72 m)
Beam
  • 29 ft (8.8 m)
  • 58 ft (18 m) at the paddles
Draught6.75–7 ft (2.06–2.13 m)
PropulsionInclined compound. Cylindrical return tube. 1,400 hp.
Speed15 knots (17 mph; 28 km/h)
Range156 tons coal
Complement50–52 men
Armament2 × 12-pounder guns

She returned to active service in the Second World War as HMS Queen of Thanet (J30).

History

Great War

Built by William Hamilton and Company in Port Glasgow, Scotland, Melton was launched in March 1916 with the pennant number 898. As built she was equipped to operate two seaplanes but never did so. For the rest of World War I she served with the Auxiliary Patrol. Post-war she was transferred to the Mine Clearance Service.[1]

Between the wars

Melton was sold to Hughes Bolckow Shipbreaking Co in 1927. She was bought by The New Medway Steam Packet Company in 1929 and converted for excursion work on the River Medway and River Thames. She was renamed Queen of Thanet. For the next twelve years she could be found working from Sheerness and Southend. Regular excursions took her to Gravesend, Margate, Clacton and Dover as well as cross-channel voyages to Calais, Boulogne and Dunkirk.[2]

World War 2

In September 1939 she was requisitioned by the Admiralty for minesweeping duties once more and commissioned as HMS Queen of Thanet, pennant number J30.[3] In May 1940 she took part in the Dunkirk evacuation rescuing 4,000 men in four trips. Of that number, 2,000 were transferred from the ex-LNER steamer Prague, after the latter had been damaged by near misses from shells and dive bombers off Gravelines.[4] For Operation Overlord in June 1944 she was stationed at Selsey as the Mulberry Despatch Control Ship. After the war she was returned in 1946 to her owners to recommence excursion work around the Thames Estuary.

Post War

In January 1949 she was sold to Red Funnel and transferred to Southampton. After refitting at Thorneycroft's yard at Northam she was commissioned in the spring as the company's second Solent Queen. For the next two years she operated excursions from Southampton in the summer. In June 1951 while slipped for survey and repair, she caught fire and was written off as a constructive loss.[5] She was scrapped by Dover Industries Ltd at Dover Eastern Docks in 1951.[6]

References
  1. Gray, Randal, ed. (1985). Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906-1921. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. p. 97. ISBN 978-0-87021-907-8.
  2. "New Medway PS Co". Simplon Post Cards. Retrieved 20 May 2015.
  3. Lenton, H.T. & Colledge, J.J. (1964). Warships of World War II, Part 4. Shepperton: Ian Allan Publishing.
  4. Divine, David (1959). The Nine Days of Dunkirk. Clerkenwell: Pan Books.
  5. Adams, R.B. (1986). Red Funnel and Before. Southampton: Kingfisher Railway. ISBN 978-0-94618-421-7.
  6. "Shipbreakers Yard, Eastern Docks". Dover Museum. Archived from the original on 27 September 2010. Retrieved 23 February 2011.

Bibliography


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