The
Fairmile B motor launch was a type of
Motor LaunchA Motor Launch is a small military vessel in British navy service. They were designed for harbour defense and submarine chasing or for armed high speed Air Sea Rescue.The first Motor Launches entered service in the First World War...
built by
Fairmile MarineFairmile Marine was a British boat building company founded in 1939 by the car manufacturer Noel Macklin.Macklin used the garage at his home at Cobham Fairmile in Surrey for manufacturing assembly which is why the boats he designed came to be called Fairmiles....
during the Second World War for the
Royal NavyThe Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of HM Armed Forces . From the beginning of the 18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early...
for coastal operations.
While the Type A had been designed entirely by Fairmile, the Type B design had come from Bill Holt of the
AdmiraltyThe Admiralty was formerly the authority in the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. Originally exercised by a single person, the office of Lord High Admiral was from the 18th century onward almost invariably put "in commission", and was exercised by a Board of Admiralty.In...
based on the lines of a destroyer hull and the detailed design and production was taken on by Fairmile.
Like all their designs it was based on total prefabrication so individual components could be contracted out to small factories for production and these arranged as kits that would be delivered to various boatyards for assembly and fitting out.
Altogether approximately 650 boats were built between 1940 and 1945.
The
Fairmile B motor launch was a type of
Motor LaunchA Motor Launch is a small military vessel in British navy service. They were designed for harbour defense and submarine chasing or for armed high speed Air Sea Rescue.The first Motor Launches entered service in the First World War...
built by
Fairmile MarineFairmile Marine was a British boat building company founded in 1939 by the car manufacturer Noel Macklin.Macklin used the garage at his home at Cobham Fairmile in Surrey for manufacturing assembly which is why the boats he designed came to be called Fairmiles....
during the Second World War for the
Royal NavyThe Royal Navy of the United Kingdom is the oldest of HM Armed Forces . From the beginning of the 18th century until well into the 20th century, it was the most powerful navy in the world, playing a key part in establishing the British Empire as the dominant world power from 1815 until the early...
for coastal operations.
Design
While the Type A had been designed entirely by Fairmile, the Type B design had come from Bill Holt of the
AdmiraltyThe Admiralty was formerly the authority in the United Kingdom responsible for the command of the Royal Navy. Originally exercised by a single person, the office of Lord High Admiral was from the 18th century onward almost invariably put "in commission", and was exercised by a Board of Admiralty.In...
based on the lines of a destroyer hull and the detailed design and production was taken on by Fairmile.
Like all their designs it was based on total prefabrication so individual components could be contracted out to small factories for production and these arranged as kits that would be delivered to various boatyards for assembly and fitting out.
Altogether approximately 650 boats were built between 1940 and 1945. Like the A Type, the B Type were initially intended as
submarine chaserA submarine chaser is a small and fast naval vessel specially intended for anti-submarine warfare. Although similar vessels were designed and used by many nations, this designation was most famously used by ships built by the United States of America . Many of the US World War I sub-chasers found...
s, so the boats were fitted with ASDIC (
sonarSonar is a technique that uses sound propagation to navigate, communicate with or detect other vessels. There are two kinds of sonar: active and passive. Sonar may be used as a means of acoustic location and of measurement of the echo characteristics of "targets" in the water...
) as standard. Their main armament initially reflected their anti-submarine focus, with 12
depth chargeThe depth charge is an anti-submarine weapon intended to defeat its target by the shock of exploding near it. Most use explosives and a fuze set to go off at a predetermined depth. Some have been designed to use nuclear warheads...
s, a single Hotchkiss 3-pounder gun aft, and one set of twin 0.303-in machine guns. The specifications given are for the original 1940 British version. As the war moved on, the vessels were adapted to other roles and the armament was modified and upgraded such as the replacement of the 3pdr with one or more 20 mm Oerlikon cannon. Some boats were configured as Motor Torpedo Boats.
Service
All boats were essentially the same, although they could be adapted to serve in several roles by the expedient of having pre-drilled rails on their decks spaced to allow fitment of various types of armaments. Many were later converted to Rescue Motor Launches with small sickbays aft of the funnel, and several more were converted to use as War Department Ambulance Launches with larger sickbays.
CanadaCanada is a country occupying most of northern North America, extending from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
built eighty boats. These were built in thirteen different
boatyardsShipyards and dockyards are places which repair and build ships. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance and basing activities than shipyards, which are sometimes associated more with initial...
to slightly different specifications and used as escort vessels. Eight of these (ML392-399) were built by Le Blanc for the Royal Navy. These eight boats were transferred under
Lend-LeaseLend-Lease was the name of the program under which the United States of America supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, France and other Allied nations with vast amounts of war material between 1941 and 1945 in return for, in the case of Britain, military bases in Newfoundland,...
to the US Navy, because US coastal protection had been depleted by transferring ships to the Royal Navy for convoy work. The US Navy used them as submarine chasers (SC1466-1473) until their forces could be built up. There are 2 surviving examples on the West Coast of Canada serving as party charter vessels.
New ZealandNew Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses , and numerous smaller islands, most notably Stewart Island/Rakiura and the Chatham Islands. The indigenous Māori named New Zealand Aotearoa, commonly translated as The Land of the Long White Cloud...
built twelve boats. These were used in New Zealand waters and around the
Solomon IslandsThe Solomon Islands is a country in Melanesia, east of Papua New Guinea, consisting of nearly one thousand islands. Together they cover a land mass of 28,400 square kilometres . The capital is Honiara, located on the island of Guadalcanal.The Solomon Islands are believed to have been...
, and included
HMNZS MaoriHMNZS Maori was a Fairmile B Motor Launch of the Royal New Zealand NavyOriginally commissioned on 20 December 1943 with pennant number Q 409, she was part of the 80th Motor Launch Flotilla. Early in 1944 she went to the Solomon Islands where she served under the operational control of COMSOPAC...
and
KahuHMNZS Kahu I was a Fairmile B motor launch of the Royal New Zealand Navy.Originally commissioned on 20 December, 1943, with the pendant number Q 411, she was part of the 80th Motor Launch Flotilla...
At least six boats (ML380-383,829 and 846) were built by
South AfricaThe Republic of South Africa is a country located at the southern tip of Africa, with a coastline on the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. To the north lie Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe, to the east are Mozambique and Swaziland, while Lesotho is an independent country surrounded by South Africa.Modern...
and commissioned during November 1942. These were sent as the 49th Fairmile Flotilla (SANF) to Burma and deployed along the Arakan coast. The boats saw much action in support of ground forces and disrupting Japanese supply lines.
A number served in the St Nazaire Raid where their relatively light construction meant they suffered heavily.
Post war they were often taken on as pleasure boats and a number of Fairmile Bs are on the
National Register of Historic VesselsThe UK's Advisory Committee on National Historic Ships was established in 2006 as a non-departmental public body reporting to the Department of Culture, Media and Sport with a specific remit to advise the Secretary of State and other public bodies on ship preservation and funding...
Four currently survive in the UK, two of which are in excellent condition. Many others of the type are known to survive around the world, some still in commercial service as tourboats.
See also
- Fairmile A motor launch
The Fairmile A motor launch was a type of Motor Launch designed by Fairmile Marine for the Royal Navy.Shortly before the Second World War the British industrialist Noel Macklin submitted to the British Admiralty an innovative plan for the series production of a motor launch...
- Fairmile C motor gun boat
The Fairmile C motor gun boat was a type of Motor Gun Boat designed by Norman Hart of Fairmile Marine for the Royal Navy. An intermediate design, twenty-four boats were built in 1941 receiving the designations MGB 312 - 335.-Design:...
- Fairmile D motor torpedo boat
The Fairmile D motor torpedo boat was a type of British Motor Torpedo Boat designed by Bill Holt and conceived by Fairmile Marine for the Royal Navy....
- Fairmile H landing craft
The Fairmile H Landing Craft were British landing craft of the Second World War. Initially designed for commando type raids from a base in Britain as a way of probing enemy defenses and tying down additional troops, some were converted into fire support vessels.Two variants were developed:The...
- Coastal Forces of the Royal Navy
Coastal Forces was a division of the Royal Navy established duringWorld War II under the command of Rear Admiral Coastal Forces. -History:The Royal Navy had previously operated flotillas of small torpedo- and depth-charge-armed craft during the First World WarThe first Headquarters was set up at ...
External links