Subsequent name:                  Allegiance 2    Kowloon Docks  

Official Number:                      191430                                                                  

Class:                                    Assurance Class Tug

Pennant No:                           W50 / A150

Laid down:                             27 October 1942
Builder:                                  Cochrane & Sons, Selby
Launched:                              22 February 1943
Into Service:                          24 May 1943
Out of service:
Fate:                                    1 September 1962 – foundered off Hong Kong

Items of historic interest involving this ship: –

Background Data:

There were originally 21 ships in this Class, 7 of which saw service as RFA’s. Of 700t standard displacement and 1350t full load displacement, they had a complement of 31 and a bollard pull of 13½ tons. In wartime they were armed with 1 x 3“ gun, 1 x 20mm AA gun and 2 x .303 machine guns

22 February 1943 launched by Cochrane & Sons Ltd, Selby as Yard Nr: 1263 named HMS ALLEGIANCE

24 May 1943 completed

11 June 1943 sailed Methil in Convoy EN 241/2 to Loch Ewe arriving on 13 June 1942

23 July 1943 sailed in convoy MKS 018G from Gibraltar towing HMS Derwent

26 July 1943 rendezvoued with Convoy SL 133 with RFA ENNERDALE (1)

5 August 1943 Convoy SL 133 arrived Liverpool – ALLEGIANCE still towing HMS DERWENT

15 September 1943 joined convoy HX256 at 47.50N 47.25W. The convoy had sailed from New York on 9 September 1943 and arrived at Liverpool on the 21 September 1943. One ship in the convoy was torpedoed but not lost.

13 October 1943 involved in a collision with HMS KITE at Londonderry

HMS KITE

20 March 1944 while towing HMS/m Graph (ex German U Boat U570) to the Clyde for breaking up the submarine ran aground on the west coast of the Island of Islay

13 July 1944 sailed Seine Bay in Convoy FTC 35 to Southend arriving the next day

8 August 1944 sailed Seine Bay in Convoy FTM 62 to Southend arriving the next day

1946 chartered to Whampoa Dockyard Co Ltd Hong Kong

1949 renamed Allegiance 2

8 December 1950 Communist Chinese Forces on the Ladrone Islands off Hong Kong fired on her when   she was returning with survivors from a ship which had sunk in the South China Sea. The bridge was twice hit by bullets

9 December 1950 the Dundee Evening Telegraph newspaper reported –

22 June 1953 sailed Port Adelaide, South Australia towing the cargo ship Arkaba for Hong Kong

22 July 1953 the Aberdeen Evening Express reported –

4 August to 12 August 1953 provided tug services to the freighter Arkaba on the Australian Bight which on the 7 November 1953 resulted in the ship being arrested by the Admiralty Marshall at Hong Kong over an unpaid bill for $15,000HK allegedly owed to the tugs owners Hong Kong Salvage & Towage Ltd.

27 August 1953 sailed Port Adelaide to for Port Lincoln to begin a second attempt, to tow the steamer Arkaba to Hong Kong 

1955 renamed KOWLOON DOCKS and based at Hong Kong

1 September  1962  foundered in the China Sea  some 100 miles off Hong Kong  after being caught in a typhoon while towing the Norwegian s.s. SLETHOLM from Shanghai to Hong Kong. There was only one survivor from her crew of thirty

Ships of the same name

Allegiance. A sloop on 149 bm, she was the American ‘King George’ captured in 1779, and captured from the Royal Navy on the 6 August 1782 by the French.