HMS Montclare (F85)

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Career (U.K.)

Laid down:	???
Launched:	Sunday, 18 December 1921
Commissioned:	2 June 1942
Decommissioned:	October 1954
Reclassified:	1942 Destroyer Depot Ship, 1944 Submarine Depot Ship
Fate:	Scrapped, Inverkeithing, 2 February 1958 by T. W. Ward
General characteristics
Displacement:	16314 Gross Register Tonnage and 21550 tons when commissioned
Length:	570 ft (170 m)
Beam:	70 ft (21 m)
Draft:	28 ft (8.5 m)
Propulsion:	As built, 6 x steam turbine 13500 shp, double reduction geared. Re-engined 1929 with single reduction geared turbines by Harland & Wolff, Belfast.
Speed:	16 knots
Complement:	???
Armament:	As a submarine depot ship 4x 4" AA guns, 42x 2pdr AA and 19x 20 mm AA.

HMS Montclare (F85) was a passenger ship built by the John Brown and Company on Clydebank for the Canadian Pacific Steamship Company, Montreal. It was later purchased by the Royal Navy during World War II.

[edit] History

On 18 August 1922 Montclare left Liverpool, on her maiden voyage, bound for Quebec and Montreal. Whilst heading for Greenock on 22 March 1931, she ran aground on Little Cumbrae with a number of passengers aboard. She was later refloated and was repaired in Liverpool

On 28 August 1939 the Montclare was requisitioned by the Admiralty and converted to an Armed Merchant Cruiser being commissioned as such in October 1939. On the 2 June 1942 she was sold to the Admiralty and converted to a Destroyer Depot Ship. Now HMS Montclare she was converted again, in 1944, to a Submarine Depot Ship and based at Rothesay with the 3rd Submarine flotilla.

In October 1954 HMS Montclare was decommissioned, being replaced as the 3rd Submarine Flotilla depot ship by HMS Adamant and laid up on the Gare Loch and then at Portsmouth. In January 1958 she was sold for scrap to T.W. Ward at Inverkeithing. Arriving there on 2 February, the scrapping commenced the next day.