Subsequent name: Vestervåg
Official Number 187356
Class: GATLING CLASS Armament Stores Carrier
Pennant No: A 375
Laid down:
Builder: Lobnitz & Co Ltd, Renfrew
Launched: 16 November 1945
Into Service: 1946
Out of service: May 1964
Fate: Sunk 24 December 1971
Items of historic interest involving this ship: –
Background Information: – One of a group of five coasters which were not normally classed as RFA’s They are included here as the ancestors of the more modern ammunition ships These five ships were designed by the Director of Naval Construction to the requirements of the Naval Armament Department. They were designed for Pacific Operations to carry ammunition from larger ships offshore which were of too deep a draught to go close inshore to the coastal areas or small harbours and had their bottoms strengthened to permit grounding when loaded if required. This was a 1943 plan connected with a future invasion of Japan. As there was no requirement to carry large naval guns they were provided with two cargo holds. The order for them was placed in October 1944 and none of them was completed before the end of hostilities, which meant that only one of them (GATLING) was needed to proceed to the Far east to assist in the rehabilitation of Singapore. GATLING and NORDENFELT were completed to mercantile standards and were registered and classed with Lloyds Register and were run on National Maritime Board conditions, while the other three were on “Yard Craft” Dockyard agreements and were completed with naval style accommodation
16 November 1945 launched by Lobnitz & Co Ltd, Renfrew as Yard Nr: 1088 named SNIDER
1946 completed with naval-type accommodation
26 November 1947 passed the Lloyds Signal Station on the Lizard sailing west
9 December 1947 passed the Lloyds Signal Station on the Lizard sailing east
28 November 1948 passed the Lloyds Signal Station on the Lizard sailing east
1 September 1949 passed the Lloyds Signal Station on the Lizard sailing west
9 September 1949 passed the Lloyds Signal Station on the Lizard sailing east
16 September 1949 arrived Portsmouth from Devonport
21 September 1949 sailed from Portsmouth
3 November 1949 passed the Lloyds Signal Station on the Lizard sailing west
12 December 1949 passed the Lloyds Signal Station on the Lizard sailing east
20 January 1950 passed the Lloyds Signal Station on the Lizard sailing west
29 July 1950 arrived at Portsmouth Harbour from Plymouth
11 January 1951 passed Saint Catherines Point sailing east bound
March 1951 used to dump 25 tons of unserviceable ammunition in the Hurds Deep, off the Channel Island. Details given in an answer to a question in the House of Commons on 17 April 1951 and reported in Hansard
18 June 1952 sailed Portsmouth Harbour
24 February 1956 chartered by Island Shipping Co at Gurnsey for 6 months – Captain C Bott from Gurnsey appointed as the ships Master
6 June 1961 at Portland alongside HMS GRAFTON supplying Naval Ammunition
18 May 1962 at Devonport moved from Plymouth Sound to Ernsettle
14 May 1964 purchased for £7,777 by Solent Power Units, Southampton
13 October 1964 removed from the Yard after sale
1966 owners now Nils Hummelsund, Bergen and renamed VESTERVAG
24 December 1971 in a storm capsized and sank 14 miles SW of Lista Light House whilst on passage from Holbaek to Bergen with a cargo of grain. Three of the crew were lost
Notes:
- Based at Priddy’s Hard Naval Armaments Depot, Gosport between 1946 to 1959