FAIRMILE A TYPE
Displacement: 57 tons, not including armament and equipment.
Length: 110 ft
Beam: 17,5 ft
Draught: 4,6 ft
Propulsion: 3 Hall-Scott Defender V12 petrol engines 600 hp
Armament: one 3-pounder Hotchkiss gun one pair of 0.303 in. Lewis machine guns. 12 depth charges
Complement: 16
Speed: 25 kts
Range: 600 miles
The Fairmile launch Motor A was a type of Motor Launch designed by Fairmile Marine for theRoyal Navy.
Shortly before the Second World War the British industrialist Noel Macklin submitted to the BritishAdmiralty an innovative plan for the series production of a motor launch. The launch design used prefabricated parts, which allowed various small manufacturers, such as furniture and piano manufacturers, to produce the individual components.
These components could then be assembled in separate shipyards. The hull was to be made of double diagonal mahogany planking with plywood frames divided into nine watertight compartments.
In July 1939, two months before the outbreak of war, the Admiralty awarded Macklin a contract to build twelve Type A Fairmiles.
While based Freetown ML 282 rescued the master, 38 crewmembers and eight gunners of the British merchant Matadian, sunk 24 Mar 44 by U-66 in pos. 05º 07'N 04º 07'W and transferred them to ML 1016 which landed them at Lagos. Matadian was loaded with a cargo of 5380 tons of palm oil.
British ship Matadian. Photo. www.shipnostalgia.com