HM Motor Gun Boat 501 was a motor gunboat operated by Royal Navy Coastal Forces during the Second World War. The design, prepared by Bill Holt of the DNC's Boat Section, was unusual for a British light coastal forces' boat at the time in that it was of composite construction, whereas most MTBs and Motor Launches were entirely wooden-hulled. MGB 501's frames and various internal members were steel, with layers of diagonal wooden planking forming the exterior skin of the hull and wood for the remaining decks & bulkheads.
| History | |
|---|---|
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | MGB 501 |
| Builder | Camper & Nicholson (Gosport) |
| Completed | 1942 |
| Fate | Sank after an internal explosion, off Lands End, on 27 July 1942 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type | Motor gunboat |
| Displacement | 95 long tons (97 t) deep load |
| Length | 117 ft (36 m) |
| Beam | 19 ft 6 in (5.94 m) |
| Draught | 4 ft 6 in (1.37 m) fully laden |
| Propulsion |
|
| Speed | |
| Range | 2,000 nautical miles (3,700 km) at 11 kn (20 km/h) |
| Complement | 21 |
| Armament |
|
| Notes | Cocker, Maurice (2006). Coastal Forces Vessels of the Royal Navy from 1865. Stroud: Tempus Publ. p. 121. ISBN 9780752438627. |
She was initially designed as a combined anti-submarine boat and motor torpedo boat, but was completed as a Motor Gun Boat.[1] Based on the lessons of combat experience with the early MA/SBs following their conversion to MGBs, MGB 501's initial designed gun armament, which would have included a 2-pdr Rolls gun, was replaced with a suite that would have provided greater reliability and volume of fire in battle (a Vickers pom-pom and an Oerlikon cannon).[2] Retaining her 21-inch torpedo tubes, she therefore completed for service as a combined motor gun & torpedo boat (much like the 'E' boats or schnellboote) whilst being designated purely as an MGB.
Loss
editHM MGB 501 was lost off Land's End on 27 July 1942, after an internal explosion.[1]
Notes
edit- ^ a b Cocker, Maurice (2006). Coastal Forces Vessels of the Royal Navy from 1865. Stroud: Tempus Publ. p. 121. ISBN 9780752438627.
- ^ Gardiner and Chesneau, p. 69
- Gardiner, Robert and Chesneau, Roger, Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946, Conway Maritime Press, 1980. ISBN 0-83170-303-2.