The ''Beachy Head''-class repair ships were a

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...

of 21 depot, maintenance and repair ships constructed for the Royal Navy during the Second World War. All of the ships in the class were constructed in Canada of which only five served in British waters during the war. Based on a modified mercantile design, five of the class were completed as merchant vessels after the war's end. Following the war, the majority were converted for mercantile use, with a further two ships ending up in service with the Royal Canadian Navy and another with the Royal Air Force.

Design and description

Following setbacks in the

Pacific theatre of operations The Pacific War, sometimes called the Asia–Pacific War, was the theater of World War II that was fought in Asia, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, and Oceania. It was geographically the largest theater of the war, including the vast ...

which led to the loss of naval bases, the Royal Navy required more depot and repair ships for the fleet to replace shore facilities.Mitchell and Sawyer, p. 39 As part of the war construction programme, the Royal Navy ordered a series of vessels based on standard mercantile designs and modified them to fit their expected roles.Lenton and Colledge, p. 341 Repair and maintenance vessels were ordered from Canadian shipyards with the escort maintenance ships intended to service smaller types of warships, such as

frigate A frigate () is a type of warship. In different eras, the roles and capabilities of ships classified as frigates have varied somewhat. The name frigate in the 17th to early 18th centuries was given to any full-rigged ship built for speed and ...

s and

corvette A corvette is a small warship. It is traditionally the smallest class of vessel considered to be a proper (or " rated") warship. The warship class above the corvette is that of the frigate, while the class below was historically that of the slo ...

s. The ''Beachy Head'' class, ordered from a series of Canadian shipbuilders, was based on the Fort ship, but of the "Victory" type layout. The ships of the class had a standard

displacement Displacement may refer to: Physical sciences Mathematics and Physics *Displacement (geometry), is the difference between the final and initial position of a point trajectory (for instance, the center of mass of a moving object). The actual path ...

of and fully loaded. They were

long overall __NOTOC__ Length overall (LOA, o/a, o.a. or oa) is the maximum length of a vessel's hull measured parallel to the waterline. This length is important while docking the ship. It is the most commonly used way of expressing the size of a ship, and ...

and between perpendiculars with a

beam Beam may refer to: Streams of particles or energy *Light beam, or beam of light, a directional projection of light energy **Laser beam *Particle beam, a stream of charged or neutral particles **Charged particle beam, a spatially localized grou ...

of and a draught of .Blackman (1958), p. 79Lenton and Colledge, p. 350 The vessels were propelled by one

shaft Shaft may refer to: Rotating machine elements * Shaft (mechanical engineering), a rotating machine element used to transmit power * Line shaft, a power transmission system * Drive shaft, a shaft for transferring torque * Axle, a shaft around whi ...

driven by a reciprocating triple expansion steam engine powered by steam from two

Foster Wheeler Foster Wheeler AG (formerly Foster Wheeler Inc.) was a Swiss global engineering conglomerate with its principal executive offices in Reading, UK and its registered office in Baar, Canton of Zug, Switzerland. Foster Wheeler was added to the NASDA ...

water-tube boilers, creating . This gave the vessels a maximum speed of . Machinery was provided from three manufacturers; General Machinery Corporation of

Hamilton, Ohio Hamilton is a city in and the county seat of Butler County, Ohio, United States. Located north of Cincinnati, Hamilton is the second largest city in the Greater Cincinnati area and the 10th largest city in Ohio. The population was 63,399 at th ...

, Canadian Allis-Chalmers Ltd and Dominion Engineering Works of Montreal, Quebec. The vessels had a complement of 270.Macpherson and Barrie, p. 279 During the war, the vessels were armed with sixteen single-mounted

20 mm Oerlikon cannon The Oerlikon 20 mm cannon is a series of autocannons, based on an original German Becker Type M2 20 mm cannon design that appeared very early in World War I. It was widely produced by Oerlikon Contraves and others, with various models emplo ...

Ships in class

Service history

Of the sixteen vessels that completed before the end of the war, ''Fife Ness'', ''Girdle Ness'', ''Dodman Point'', ''Dungeness'' and ''Spurn Point'' served in British waters around the United Kingdom. The remaining eleven vessels served either in the East Indies or in the Pacific. Following the war, ''Beachy Head'' was loaned to the

Royal Netherlands Navy The Royal Netherlands Navy ( nl, Koninklijke Marine, links=no) is the naval force of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. During the 17th century, the navy of the Dutch Republic (1581–1795) was one of the most powerful naval forces in the world an ...

and renamed ''Vulkaan''. The vessel returned to Royal Navy service in 1949 and was then sold to the Royal Canadian Navy and renamed ''Cape Scott'' in 1954. ''Flamborough Head'' was also sold to the Royal Canadian Navy and renamed ''Cape Breton'' in 1954. ''Fife Ness'' was transferred to the Royal Air Force and renamed ''Adastral'' in 1947. The stern of ''Cape Breton'' was scrapped at the

North Vancouver North Vancouver may refer to: *North Vancouver (city), a city in British Columbia, Canada * North Vancouver (district municipality), a district municipality in British Columbia, Canada * North Vancouver (electoral district), a federal electoral di ...

, British Columbia waterfront in 2014 despite protests, the rest of the ship having been sunk as an artificial reef.

References

Citations

Sources

* * * * *

External links

''Beachy Head'' class at uboat.net
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beachy Head Auxiliary ships of the Royal Navy Ships of the Royal Air Force