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Torpedo

Boat

a modern

design, bristling

i

typical

Critish

Ciaiiiii

naotor ooaii,

ts ouin

ov

Thorneycroft

of

Chiswick.

the

most up-to-date equipment,

Eagle

is

just

the latest

(and

in

a

long line of

high speed

craft

produced

by

the

Vosper-

concern.

the hyphenated

(-)

combo

into being

in

1966, both

Herbert

and John

Thornycroft

were

separate boatbuilding

concerns

years

ago,

the former

in

Portsmouth,

latter

first in Chiswick and

later

(Southampton)

first

it

was Thornycrofts

who were

with speed across the

water.

over

200

steam-propelled

torpedo

the

first hydroplanes

(Miranda

by

World War

One,

Thornycrofts

progressed

to a lethal

flotilla

of

some

40ft

torpedo-carrying CMB's

Motor Boats) each

with

a speed

of

up to

40 knots.

at this stage

were concerned

tugs

and

harbour

launches,

with converting

Isle

of

Wight

ferries

wartime use.

lW

Miss England 3 on Loch

Lomond in 19?12.

During the

1920s,

whilst

Saunders-Roe

Ltd,

the

British Powerboat

Company and

See

of Fareham

remained the

major

high-

speed

racing

powerboat

builders,

Thornycroft's did

get

a

look

in with

their

construction of

the Rolls-Royce

aero-

engined Miss England

III

which

in

1932

lifted the

World Water

Speed

Record to

I l9.8lmph.

Meantime

Vosper had acquired a

new

managing director

with

a

flair

for fast

boats

called Commander

Peter du

Cane.

During the

1930s, using marinised

engines

by Ford

of

Dagenham,

du

Cane

gave

Vosper a fine

reputation

for

naval

motorboat-building.

Top of

the

range

was

the

40ft royal

barge

built

for the

royal

yacht

(then

the

Victoria and Albert,

later

the

Britannia)

and

fitted

with three 65hp

V8

engines.

Keeping

in

their

hand

at high

speed,

in

1939 Sir

Malcolm

Campbell's

second

Bluebird,

a

Rolls-Royce

aero-engined

Ventnor three-point

hydroplane

left the

Portsmouth

yard

for Coniston

where

it

lifted the

World Speed

Record

to

15

8/9/2019 1988 Vosper Thornycrofy Boats

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:

ti

fruition

soon

after

with

the

'Brave'

Class:

altogether some sixteen, triple Proteus-

engined,

95ft

FBPs were

sold

to

the

navies

of

Germany, Denmark, Brunei, Malaysia

and

Libya.

Built on the same lines. but as an

express

luxury motor

yacht

for

millionaire

Stavros

Niarchos

was

Mercury

(l02ft),

also

powered

by three Bristol Siddeley

Proteus marine

engines, totally over

10,000hp; on trials

she

achieved a top

speed

of

54

knots at

sea.

The Cowes-Torquay offshore

powerboat

contest also inspired

Commander du Cane to design

for

the

sport.

In 1962

Tramontana

I

won

the

race

at 37mph; Tramontana II

would

have

finished

third but for

an error of

navigation

off

the

Isle

of

Wight.

In

1966,

the

year

Vosper

merged

with

John I

Thornycroft

Ltd

of

Woolston, a

third

craft, Flying Fish, a

38-footer of

welded

u,r,

luN

*t\

sx:i

.t'

;:'.

:.::

,I

H-

l4l.7mph.

During

World War

II,

the

Royal Navy's

coastal

forces

using

large numbers of

Vosper-designed MTB Type

102

(70-73fr

in

overall

length) wreaked havoc

among

German

E

boats

and convoys.

Although

some of these

were

powered

by twin

Thornycroft

l2-cylinder engines,

ironically

Thornycroft themselves built

very few

high-speed

MTBs.

Post-War,

with

Commander

du Cane at

the

helm,

Vosper

continued

their

quest

for

speed at sea.

There

were

pioneer

experiments

with

gas

turbines as

propulsion

units for MTB's

(or

Fast

Patrol Boats as they

were

now

called)

then

in

1952

came

construction

of

Crusader,

a revolutionary

world

water

speed challenger, designed

by

du Cane

l.

Bluebird

2

2.

MTB

Type

l(P

3.

Stavros Niarchos's

Mercury

4.

John Cobb's

Crusader

5. Two

of

the

gas-turbined-engined

'Brave'Class.

and

colleagues

for

the wealthy

motor-

racing ace

John

Cobb. Powered by a de

Havilland

Ghost turbojet engine, this

futuristic

alloy-and-ply

projectile

had

reached 240mph on Loch

Ness when it

totally disintengrated, killing Cobb.

The

gas-turbine programme

came to

t6

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_:,

,

-

construction,

was

leading the

in

the same

event

when she

off

Portland

Bill.

During

the

past

20

years,

Vosper-

Ltd have

provided

the

navies

Nigeria, Iran and

Brazil with defence

and

frigates.

With

the Gentry

Eagle, although

the

may have re-entered

a sporting

traceable back to

the turn

of

the

one

feels

certain that

the

lessons

'on the

pond'

for

future

FPB's

prove

invaluable.

Tramantana

Tramantana

2

Flying Fish

Gentry

Eagle

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