HMS Ford

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Career (UK)
Builder:	Dunlop Bremmer, Port Glasgow
Launched:	19 October 1918
Out of service:	Sold October 1928 to Townsend Bros and resold 8 December 1928 to become Forde
Fate:	Scrapped 1 May 1954 at Malaga
General characteristics
Class and type:	Hunt class minesweeper (1916), Aberdare sub-class
Displacement:	710 tons
Length:	231 ft (70 m)
Beam:	28 ft (8.5 m)
Draught:	8 ft (2.4 m)
Propulsion:	Yarrow-type boilers, Vertical triple-expansion engines, 2 shafts, 2,200 ihp
Speed:	max 16 knots
Range:	140 tons coal
Complement:	73 men
Armament:	1x QF 4 inch forward QF 12 pounder aft 2x twin 0.303 inch machine guns

HMS Ford was a Hunt class minesweeper of the Royal Navy from World War I. Ford was renamed from HMS Fleetwood prior to launch.

[edit] Service as Forde

In 1928 she was sold to Townsend Bros and converted into a car ferry between Dover and Calais, fitted with a stern door which folded down onto the quay. However, this was unusable, and the cars were craned on. She could carry 165 passengers and 26 cars. Two general saloons, a ladies’ saloon and three private state rooms were constructed.

During the Second World War Forde served under the Admiralty as a salvage vessel. Afterwards she was refitted at Southampton and returned to Dover as a car ferry on 12 April 1947. She was withdrawn in October 1949, sold and finished her days as a car ferry between Gibraltar and Algiers, finally being withdrawn in 1954.

[edit] References

• Colledge, J. J. and Warlow, Ben (2006). Ships of the Royal Navy: the complete record of all fighting ships of the Royal Navy, Rev. ed., London: Chatham. ISBN 9781861762818. OCLC 67375475.