Our May meeting, last of the spring/summer programme, featured the Cold War and train ferries.
Dr Edward Hampshire is a historian at the Naval Historical Branch, Ministry of Defence; his research focus is on the Royal Navy and British defence policy since 1945. Last year he published a slim volume (I jest!), The Royal Navy in the Cold War Years 1966-1990: Retreat and Revival. His talk on the continuing strategic importance to the Royal Navy of the Suez Canal was topical as post-Brexit Britain re-establishes a presence east of Suez.
His argument was that the Suez Crisis forced a re-evaluation of British naval posture. Previously, the need to assure oil supplies emphasised a focus on home and Mediterranean fleets, while concern for retention of skilled seamen prompted regular rotation of squadrons between home and overseas deployments.
Following the crisis ordinary deployments could not be assured, leading to an enhanced role for the East Indies.
By 1956 almost the whole of the active fleet was based on Singapore which, because of the extended transit time, created its own retention issues. His talk followed the ebb and flow of crisis and commitment east of Suez, including the renewed closure of the Suez Canal from 1967-75 after the 6-Day War, until the final withdrawal in 1974/5. Global events once again forced Britain’s hand with the outbreak of the Iran/Iraq war.
Europe was the main consumer of Middle Eastern oil, so it fell on European navies to protect traffic through the war zone.
One of the most interesting and challenging talks of the year produced lively discussion, which could easily have filled up the afternoon. However, that wouldn’t have been fair on …
Our member Andy Meredith who served 16 years in the RN, retiring as a Surgeon Commander in 1990.
Following this he became a consultant ENT surgeon and sleep physician in the NHS at Hastings and QA Portsmouth. He obtained a MA in Naval history at Portsmouth in 2019. The title of his talk on Train Ferry Number 1 (and 2&3) was an intriguing hook which kept us in suspense until the last moment.
A key challenge in WW1 was keeping the British Expeditionary Force supplied with the prodigious quantities of materiel needed by an army in the field. The first solution was to load barges at Dover and Southampton.
Their shallow draught allowed them to deliver stores directly to French river and canal banks. The volumes involved quickly overwhelmed these ports, so Richborough in Kent was brought into use. A backwater at first, it was handling 30,000 tons per week by 1918.
The evident need for a better way produced the idea of loading trains directly onto ships. Three were designed and ordered. Completed from late 1917 they were given the glamorous names Train Ferry No 1, 2 and 3. Each had four parallel tracks over a planked deck, which allowed them to carry vehicles instead of rolling stock if required. They were loaded via a link span and proved their value, both in the last year of the war and in retrieving men and materials afterward.
All three were laid up after 1922 but saw service again on the Harwich to Zeebrugge service. With renewed hostilities Train Ferries Nos 1 and 3 were taken up by the RN as HMS Princess Iris and Daffodil respectively and converted to landing craft carriers. No 2 became a store ship. Nos 2 and 3 were lost due to enemy action with heavy loss of life. No 1 was returned to her owners after the war and continued to serve the Harwich-Zeebrugge run Until she was broken up in 1957.
These almost forgotten, hastily built and conspicuously ugly ships did sterling service in two world wars and pioneered the roll-on / roll-off concept of operations.
Please see our Events page for future attractions.