MV Kenilworth

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Kenilworth arriving at Gourock pierhead.

Setting out from Gourock on 23 October 2006, with naval supply ship Fort George in the background.

The MV Kenilworth is a historic passenger ferry, now used on a ferry service on the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. She was built in 1936, as the MV Hotspur II, for use as a passenger ferry on the Hythe Ferry service across Southampton Water in England.

In 1978 the Hotspur II was bought by Clyde Marine Motoring and renamed Kenilworth after the novel Kenilworth by Walter Scott. Since then she has served on the Gourock — Kilcreggan — Helensburgh ferry service across the Firth of Clyde and the Gare Loch.

Occasionally the company, now part of Clyde Marine Services Ltd., uses other ships on the run, often The Second Snark which also serves on cruises.

One of the Kenilworth's half-sisters, the Hotspur IV, still exists and is used as reserve boat on the Hythe Ferry service.

At 9.40 am BST on 23 October 2006 a US Navy warship taking part in the Neptune Warrior training exercise radioed the Kenilworth to warn "'Unidentified vessel approaching on my starboard side, please identify yourself. If you fail to do so, we will open fire on you with live ammunition.'" The message caused alarm as it was broadcast on VHF channel 16, the international calling and distress frequency. A spokeswoman at Faslane indicated that channel 16 had been correctly used to request identification, but should not have been used for the warning which should have been on an exercise frequency. She stated that the ferry had not been in any danger, and advised that the organiser of the exercise, Commander Don Chalmers, deputy director of the Joint Maritime Operational Training Staff, had apologised to the skipper.^[1]