HMS Wellington (U65)

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Wellington.

History
Wellington as she is today from across the Thames.
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Wellington
Builder:	Devonport
Launched:	1934
Out of service:	1947
Identification:	Pennant number: U65
Fate:	Sold as headquarters ship
United Kingdom
Name:	HQS Wellington
Owner:	Honourable Company of Master Mariners
Acquired:	1947
Status:	Headquarters ship on River Thames
General characteristics
Class & type:	Grimsby-class sloop

HMS Wellington (launched Devonport, 1934) is a Grimsby-class sloop, formerly of the Royal Navy. During the Second World War, she served as a convoy escort ship in the North Atlantic. She is now moored alongside the Victoria Embankment, at Temple Pier, on the River Thames in London, England, as the headquarters ship of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners, where she is known as HQS Wellington. It was always the ambition of the founding members of the company to have a livery hall. Up to the outbreak of war in 1939, various proposals were examined, including the purchase of a sailing ship, Archibald Russell.

After the Second World War, it became apparent that the possibility of building a hall in the City of London had been rendered very remote. In 1947, the Grimsby-class sloop Wellington was made available by the Admiralty. The company decided to buy her with money subscribed by the members and convert her to a floating livery hall, an appropriate home for a company of seafarers.

Service history

Royal Navy service

Wellington in April 1942.

Built at Devonport in 1934, HMS Wellington served in the Pacific mainly on station in New Zealand and China before the Second World War. As built, Wellington mounted two 4.7-inch guns and one 3-inch gun. Additionally, anti-aircraft guns were fitted for self-defence. Depth charges for use against submarines were carried. Wellington served primarily in the North Atlantic on convoy escort duties. She shared in the destruction of one enemy U-boat and was involved in Operation Cycle, the evacuation of Allied troops from Le Havre. During 1943 she was briefly commanded by Captain John Treasure Jones, at that time a lieutenant commander in the Royal Navy Reserve, who would later be the last captain of RMS Queen Mary.

The Grimsby-class anti-submarine sloops of 1933-36, which included HMS Wellington, were the predecessors of the Black Swan class of 1939.

HMS President is moored near Wellington on the Embankment. This ship, built as HMS Saxifrage in 1918, was a Flower-class anti-submarine Q-Ship, and is one of the last three surviving warships of the Royal Navy built during the First World War. President was one of the first types of warship built specifically for anti-submarine warfare. Wellington and President together represent the first and second generation ancestors of modern frigates, which are the most numerous type of front-line warship in today's navy.

Post-war

HQS Wellington as she is today in the River Thames.

After World War II, she was converted from being His Majesty’s Ship Wellington to Head Quarters Ship (HQS) Wellington at Chatham Dockyard. The cost of this conversion was met by an appeal to which Lloyd's, shipping companies, livery companies and many other benefactors generously contributed. It included the installation of a grand wooden staircase taken from the 1906 Isle of Man ferry SS Viper, which was being broken up at the same time. Wellington arrived at her Victoria Embankment berth in December 1948 to continue service as the floating livery hall of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners.

In 1991, HQS Wellington was dry-docked at Sheerness for three months during which, apart from extensive steelwork repairs and complete external painting, she received a major refurbishment which included the refitting of all toilet facilities, offices and accommodation areas. For the first time, Wellington was fully fitted with custom-made carpet, and displays were installed of the Company’s marine paintings and artefacts, gold and silver plate, ship models and newly discovered very early 18th-century charts.

References

Bibliography

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.
Hague, Arnold (1993). Sloops: A History of the 71 Sloops Built in Britain and Australia for the British, Australian and Indian Navies 1926–1946. Kendal, England: World Ship Society. ISBN 0-905617-67-3.
A. D. Munro (1 January 2006). HMS/HQS Wellington. Wellington Trust. ISBN 978-0-9553405-0-5.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to HMS Wellington (1934).

Grimsby-class sloops

Royal Navy	Grimsby Leith Lowestoft Wellington Londonderry Deptford Aberdeen Fleetwood

Royal Australian Navy	Yarra Swan Parramatta Warrego

Royal Indian Navy	Indus

List of corvette and sloop classes of the Royal Navy List of major warship classes of the Royal Australian Navy List of ships of the Indian Navy

Ships and vessels on the National Register of Historic Vessels

Sailing ships	Albion Bloodhound Cambria Cutty Sark Discovery Edith May Excelsior Glenlee Hathor Irene Kathleen & May Lady of the Lea Maud Peggy Reaper Thalatta Will

Steamships	Cervia Duke of Lancaster Explorer Freshspring Gondola Great Britain John H Amos Kingswear Castle Lydia Eva Maid of the Loch Medway Queen Nomadic Robin Ryde Shieldhall Tattershall Castle Waverley Wingfield Castle

Motor vessels	Aberdonia Arctic Corsair Balmoral Bluebird of Chelsea Bustardthorpe Calshot Devon Belle Havengore Karina Lady Wakefield Massey Shaw Mincarlo Pyronaut Ross Tiger Royal Iris SR.N1 Sundowner The Second Snark Tower Belle

Canal vessels	Bessie Birchills Diamond Kildare Peacock Perseverance IV President Stour

Lifeboats	Aguila Wren Forester’s Centenary H F Bailey III Helen Smitton Henry Ramey Upcher J C Madge Jesse Lumb Lucy Lavers The Manchester Unity of Oddfellows Thomas McCunn William and Kate Johnstone Zetland

Lightships	Light Vessel 12 Spurn Light Vessel 14 Spurn North Carr

Warships	CMB 4 HMS Alliance HMS Belfast HMS Bronington HMS Caroline HMS Cavalier HMS Gannet HMS Ocelot HMS President HMS Trincomalee HMS Unicorn HMS Victory HMS Warrior HMS Wellington M33 LCT 7074 Mary Rose MTB 102

Vessels of the National Historic Fleet	Albion RNLB Alfred Corry Balmoral Calshot Cambria Cervia CMB 4 Cutty Sark Excelsior Glenlee H F Bailey III Hathor HMS Alliance HMS Belfast HMS Bronington HMS Caroline HMS Cavalier HMS Gannet HMS President HMS Trincomalee HMS Unicorn HMS Victory HMS Warrior Holland 1 HQS Wellington Jesse Lumb John H Amos Kathleen and May Kingswear Castle Light Vessel 12 Spurn Lydia Eva M33 Maid of the Loch Mary Rose Massey Shaw Maud Mayflower Medway Queen MTB 102 North Carr Peacock Peggy President Prince Frederick's Barge PS Ryde Pyronaut Reaper Result Royal Yacht Britannia Discovery Sir Walter Scott SS Great Britain SS Nomadic SS Robin SS Shieldhall Sundowner Thalatta The Fairmile Turbinia Waverley Wingfield Castle Zetland

Vessels listed on the National Archive of Historic Vessels	City of Adelaide HMS Stalker Lincoln Castle Manxman Queen Mary Somerset Waterwitch

Coordinates: 51°30′38″N 0°6′45″W / 51.51056°N 0.11250°W / 51.51056; -0.11250

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