Letters

Repair/depot ships in the Royal Navy

I am a sailor. I served twenty one and a half years in the USN, and all of it aboard repair ships. I served in ten different ships, as a MOLDER in the shipboard foundries. I know that the RN had depot ships, but I would like to know if the RN had, or has anything like our repair ships . Our primary duty was to anchor or moor some place and take alongside those ships that had battle damage or simply needed work done on them that was beyond the capabilities of the ships company. We could, and did, repair anything from a ships chronometer to the main batteries on a battleship. The repair ships were "type" designated, with an AR being general repair, an AD was primarily for destroyers and other smaller "ships of the line", and the AS, which did work on submarines. I served in all three types, in the foundry. We could melt anything from lead, at around 400 degrees F, to stainless steel, at about 3200 degrees F. Most of our work however was casting brass, bronze, and aluminum. Some of the foundries only had the equipment with which to melt brass, bronze, and aluminum, while others could melt anything, Including the foundry deck if somebody got careless. (I've seen this happen) If you would like more information about repair ships for your web site, just drop me a line, and I will be glad to tell you what I know. Thanks for your time.
 
Dan Brown
USN (Ret)
"One nation, under God, indivisable ---"


Hello Dan, 

My thanks for your interesting mail.

The RN as you say, had Depot ships, mainly for Submarines, and also for Destroyers, really acting as a Mother Hen to those type of wartime ships.

They did have a repair ship HMS Lancashire, but I am not able to unearth anything about her. I do not think that the RN had anything like the repair ships that you served in.
 
Since WW2 they have some repair ships and if you go to this URL
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RFA_Diligence_%28A132%29 there is some detail about the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Diligence, which is a more modern repair ship, that served in the Falklands war.

Any history of Repair ships in any Navy, is an area I have completely neglected on AHOY, and I would be pleased to have your help to remedy that situation.
 
Best regards,
Mackenzie Gregory.


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