HMS Beagle (A319)

Career
Class and type: Bulldog class survey vessel
Name: HMS Beagle
Builder: Brooke Marine, Lowestoft
Launched: 7 September 1967
Commissioned: 9 May 1968
Decommissioned: 7 February 2002
Fate: Sold March 2002
General characteristics
Displacement: 1,050 tons
Length: 189.6 ft (57.8 m) o/a
Beam: 37.5 ft (11.4 m)
Propulsion: Four Lister Blackstone ER58M 8 cylinder diesel engines, 2,640 bhp, twin screws
Speed: 15 knots
Complement: 42

HMS Beagle was a Bulldog class coastal survey vessel of the Royal Navy.

She was originally to have been called HMS Barracouta but her name was changed to HMS Beagle in honour of the ship which carried Charles Darwin.

She was built by yacht builder Brooke Marine, to commercial, rather than military, ship standards at a cost of £53,000,000.[1] She was launched on 7 September 1967 and commissioned the following year. She was the last Royal Navy vessel to have wooden (over steel) decks. She served until 7 February 2002 when she was paid off. She was sold in March that year for £750,000 to a yacht company in Poole for conversion. In 2002 she was refitted into a four deck luxury yacht and renamed MY Titan. She is able to sleep 22 guests and accommodate 20 crew.[2]

References