A motor launch (ML) is a small military vessel in

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

service. It was designed for harbour defence and submarine chasing. Similar vessels were used by the Royal Air Force for armed high-speed

air-sea rescue Air-sea rescue (ASR or A/SR, also known as sea-air rescue), and aeronautical and maritime search and rescue (AMSAR) by the ICAO and International Maritime Organization, IMO, is the coordinated search and rescue (SAR) of the survivors of emergenc ...

. Some vessels for

water police Water police, also called bay constables, coastal police, harbor patrols, marine/maritime police/patrol, nautical patrols, port police, or river police are a specialty law enforcement portion of a larger police organization, who patrol in wate ...

service are also known as motor launches. Motor launches were slower than motor torpedo boats and

motor gun boat The motor gunboat (MGB) was a small, high-speed British military vessel of the Second World War, which was armed with a mix of guns, in contrast to the physically similar motor torpedo boat (MTB), whose main offensive weapon were torpedoes. ...

World War I service

Although small by naval standards, it was larger than the preceding steam or diesel-engined

harbour launch The harbour launch, commonly termed 52 1/2ft harbour launch (based on the waterline length) was a type of small launch used by the Royal Navy for general duties around Royal Naval dockyards and sea ports. They were of a double diagonal oak plank ...

es of 56 ft and

coastal motor boat Coastal Motor Boat was a small high-speed British torpedo boat used by the Royal Navy in the First World War and up to end of the Second World War. During the First World War, following a suggestion from three junior officers of the Harwich ...

s of 40 and 55 ft length. The first motor launches entered service in the

First World War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. These were five hundred and eighty vessels built by the US

Elco Elco or ELCO may refer to: __NOTOC__ Places * Elco, Illinois * Elco, Pennsylvania Schools * El Camino College * Eastern Lebanon County High School, a school in Myerstown, Pennsylvania * El Camino High School (South San Francisco) Businesses * Elc ...

company for the Admiralty, receiving the numbers ML-1 to ML-580. They served with the

between 1916 and the end of the war, defending the British coast from German submarines. Some of the earliest examples, including ML 1, also served in the

Persian Gulf The Persian Gulf, sometimes called the Arabian Gulf, is a Mediterranean seas, mediterranean sea in West Asia. The body of water is an extension of the Arabian Sea and the larger Indian Ocean located between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula.Un ...

from June 1916. After the

Armistice of 11 November 1918 The Armistice of 11 November 1918 was the armistice signed in a railroad car, in the Compiègne Forest near the town of Compiègne, that ended fighting on land, at sea, and in the air in World War I between the Entente and their las ...

flotilla A flotilla (from Spanish, meaning a small ''flota'' ( fleet) of ships), or naval flotilla, is a formation of small warships that may be part of a larger fleet. Composition A flotilla is usually composed of a homogeneous group of the same cla ...

of 12 Royal Navy motor launches travelled down the Rhine performing duty as the Rhine Patrol Flotilla. The only known surviving example of a World War I era motor launch is ''ML-286'', which now lies in a poor condition on the banks of the River Thames.

World War II types

The BPBC Type Two was succeeded by the Type Three 68 ft "Hants and Dorset". Post-war, many motor launches were taken on as pleasure boats. A number of them are on the

National Register of Historic Vessels National Historic Ships UK is a government-funded independent organisation that advises UK governments and others on matters relating to historic ships.

.Gardiner and Chesneau, p. 71

References

* Gardiner, Robert, ''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921'' Conway Maritime Press, 1985. . * Gardiner, Robert and Chesneau, Roger, ''Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1922–1946'', Conway Maritime Press, 1980. .

External links

UK National Register of Historic Vessels

{{Webarchive, url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140309053740/http://www.junobeach.org/e/4/can-tac-fai-e.htm , date=9 March 2014

Royal Navy Coastal Forces training base, mainly for MLs

* ttp://www.motorlaunchpatrol.net/ "The Movies" A Motor Launch History Ships of the Royal Navy Submarine chaser classes Patrol boat classes Auxiliary search and rescue ship classes Military boats

World War I service

World War II types

See also

References

External links