&sq=Google&lang=en&file=File:HMS_Aberdare_IWM_Q_14134.jpg) Sister-ship to HMS Crozier, HMS Aberdare was a Hunt-class minesweeper of the same Aberdare sub-class before being refitting as a survey vessel and renamed HMSAS Protea.
| |
 United Kingdom | |
|---|---|
| Name | HMS Crozier |
| Namesake | Polar explorer Captain Francis Crozier |
| Commissioned | 1 July 1919 |
| Decommissioned | 1921 |
| Fate | converted to hydrographic survey vessel and transferred to South African Naval forces on 28 November 1921 |
| South Africa | |
| Name | HMSAS Protea |
| Namesake | Protea - a genus of South African flowering plants. |
| Acquired | 28 November 1921 |
| Commissioned | 1 April 1922 |
| Decommissioned | 30 April 1933 |
| Fate | Returned to Royal Navy 30 April 1933 |
| Notes | Commissioned into South African forces as HMS 'Crouzier' on 1 April 1922, renamed HMSAS Protea 2 December 1922.[1] |
| United Kingdom | |
| Name | HMS Protea |
| Acquired | 30 April 1933 |
| Stricken | 1935 |
| Fate | Sold to Blackpool Steam Navigation Co. in 1935 for £1,000 |
 United Kingdom | |
| Name | SS Queen of the Bay |
| Port of registry | Blackpool |
| Acquired | 1935 |
| Fate | Sold to Spanish Navy |
 Spain (Second Republic) | |
| Name | Lieutenant Captain Remigio Verdia |
| Acquired | 1938 |
| Fate | Ran aground Cartagena in Spain in 1939[2][3] |
| Notes | blockade runner during the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) to supply to the anti-fascist forces.[2] |
| General characteristics (as built) | |
| Class and type | Hunt-class minesweeper (1916) |
| Displacement | 800 long tons (813 t) (standard)[4] |
| Length | 70.4 m (231 ft) o/a[4] |
| Beam | 8.71 m (28.6 ft)[4] |
| Draught | 2.29 m (7.5 ft)[4] |
| Installed power | 2× 3 cyl cylindrical boilers[4] |
| Propulsion | 2× shaft |
| Speed | 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)[4] |
| Range | 1,500 nmi (2,800 km; 1,700 mi) at 10 knots (19 km/h; 12 mph)[4] |
| Complement | 85 (7 officers and 78 other ranks)[4] |
| Armament | 1x QF 3-pounder Vickers (47 mm / L50) gun. Later removed when converted to survey vessel. |
HMSAS Protea was the first hydrographic survey ship used by the South African Naval Service (which later became the South African Navy). The ship was laid down as a minesweeper to be named HMS Ventnor in 1917[5] but was renamed HMS Verwood in 1918[5] while under construction. She was again re-named and launched as HMS Crozier on 1 July 1919.[5] The vessel was converted from a minesweeper to a hydrographic survey vessel in 1921 and transferred to the South African forces in 1922, where she was commissioned as HMSAS Protea.[6] She served as a survey vessel until 1933 when she was returned to the Royal Navy.[5] Protea was eventually sold by the Royal Navy and renamed MV Queen of the Bay[5] where she went on to operate as a pleasure craft out of Blackpool. She was subsequently sold to the Spanish Navy and renamed Lieutenant Captain Remigio Verdia, and used as supply vessel to run blockades, smuggling supplies to the anti-fascists in Spain during the civil war.[2] She ran aground and sunk off Cartagena in Spain in 1939.[3]
- ^ Monick 1990, p. 41-42.
- ^ a b c Wessels 2012.
- ^ a b "Queen of the Bay".
- ^ a b c d e f g h Du Toit 1992, p. 5-6,10.
- ^ a b c d e Du Toit 1992, p. 10-110.
- ^ "National Archives of South Africa (NASA) Database Selection".