HMS Precise (Z285)

Career (UK)
Name: HMS Precise (Z285)
Builder: Barbour Boat Works
New Bern, North Carolina
Laid down: 14 September 1943
Launched: 20 July 1944
Sponsored by: Mrs. H. W. Barbour
Completed: 19 December 1944
Acquired: 21 December 1944
Fate: returned to U.S. Navy, 14 December 1945
Career (US)
Acquired: 14 December 1945
Struck: 28 March 1946
Fate: transferred to the Maritime Commission, 10 April 1947, for disposal
General characteristics
Class and type: Ailanthus-class net laying ship
Displacement: 1,190 long tons (1,210 t) (full)
Length: 194 ft 6 in (59.28 m)
Beam: 37 ft (11 m)
Draught: 13 ft 6 in (4.11 m)
Propulsion: diesel electric, 2,500 hp (1,900 kW)
Speed: 13 knots (24 km/h)
Complement: 56
Armament: 1 × 3"/50 caliber gun
4 × twin 20 mm (0.79 in) gun mounts

HMS Precise (Z285) was a net laying ship for the Royal Navy during the Second World War acquired from the United States Navy in December 1944 via Lend-Lease.

The ship was laid down as Boxelder (YN-80), a net tender of the Ailanthus class, on 14 September 1943 at Barbour Boat Works in New Bern, North Carolina. On 17 January 1944, while still under construction, the ship was reclassified as a net laying ship and redesignated AN-74. Boxelder was launched on 20 July and completed on 19 December.

After delivery to the U.S. Navy on 21 December, she was transferred to the United Kingdom under Lend-Lease the same day and commissioned into the Royal Navy as HMS Precise (Z285). Upon completion of wartime duty with the United Kingdom, she was returned to the U.S. Navy on 14 December 1945. Struck from the Naval Vessel Register on 28 March 1946, she was transferred to the United States Maritime Commission on 10 April 1947 and sold.

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