HMS Thruster (F131)
HMS Thruster
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History | |
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Name | Thruster |
Ordered | 6 March 1941 |
Builder | Harland and Wolff |
Laid down | 31 July 1941 |
Launched | 24 September 1942 |
Completed | 2 April 1943 |
Commissioned | 28 January 1943 |
Reclassified | Fighter direction ship, 1944 |
Identification | Pennant number: F131 |
Fate | Transferred to Royal Netherlands Navy, 1947 |
Name | Pelikaan |
Acquired | 1947 |
Identification | Pennant number: A 830 |
Fate | Scrapped Bilbao 1973 |
General characteristics | |
Type | Mark I LST |
Displacement | 3,620 |
Speed |
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Capacity | 13 Churchill infantry tanks, 27 vehicles, 193 men |
Complement | 169 |
Service record | |
Operations: |
HMS Thruster (F131) was a Mark I LST built by Harland and Wolff. Launched in September 1942 and commissioned the following March, she saw service as part of the Allied invasion of Italy.
Design and development
[edit]Thruster was the third of the LST Mk.1 class ships which could carry 13 Churchill tanks, 27 other vehicles and 193 men. It had a high speed even when laden for the assault (about 18 knots) but did not have a shallow draught, which meant that a 140 ft (43 m) long bow ramp had to be added and this took up a lot of room inside the ship.
Bruiser had only two sister ships, as plans to build more in the United States led instead to a simpler though slower design capable of similar capacity but with a much shallower draught.
Royal Navy service
[edit]Thruster took part in the Salerno landing in 1943. In 1944, she was refitted as a fighter direction ship, for use during the Normandy landings in controlling fighter aircraft by ground-controlled interception.[1] Later in 1944 she took British troops back into Athens in Greece.[2] Thruster was transferred to the Royal Netherlands Navy in 1947.
Royal Netherlands service
[edit]She was acquired by the Royal Netherlands Navy in 1947 and renamed HNLMS Pelikaan with the hull number A 830.
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ "HMS Thruster - Landing Ship Tank of WW2". www.combinedops.com. Retrieved 20 June 2021.
- ^ "bbc".