HMS Ford (1918)
| 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.
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 She was withdrawn in October 1949, sold to Bland Line, renamed "Gibel Tarik" and finished her days as a car ferry between Gibraltar and Tangier, Morocco, finally being withdrawn in 1954.
References
- Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8. OCLC 67375475.
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