Hill-class trawler

The Hill class of Admiralty trawlers was a small class of trawlers built for the British Royal Navy during the Second World War.

Hill-class trawler

HMS Inkpen in 1942
Class overview
Builders	Cook, Welton & Gemmell, Beverley
Operators	Royal Navy
Built	1940–1942
In commission	1941–1945
Completed	8
Lost	2
General characteristics [1]
Type	Naval trawler
Displacement	750 long tons (762 t)
Length	182 ft (55 m)
Beam	28 ft (8.5 m)
Draught	13.7 ft (4.2 m)
Propulsion	Reciprocating engine, 1 shaft
Speed	12.25 knots (22.69 km/h; 14.10 mph)
Complement	35
Armament	1 × 12-pdr gun 3 × Oerlikon 20 mm AA guns 55 × depth charges

The vessels were intended for use as minesweepers and for anti-submarine warfare, and the design was based on a commercial type, the 1937 Barnett by Cook Welton and Gemmell of Beverley.^[2] The purpose of the order was to make use of specialist mercantile shipyards to provide vessels for war use by adapting commercial designs to Admiralty specifications. In 1940 the Royal Navy ordered eight such vessels from Cook Welton and Gemmell. All saw active service and two were lost in action.

Ships

• Birdlip (T218), completed 11 December 1941: torpedoed, W Africa, 13 June 1944
• Bredon (T223), completed 2 April 1942: torpedoed, N Atlantic, 8 February 1943
• Butser (T219), completed 8 January 1942
• Duncton (T220), completed 27 January 1942
• Dunkery (T224), completed 23 April 1942
• Inkpen (T225), completed 23 May 1942
• Portsdown (T221), completed 19 February 1942
• Yestor (T222), completed 12 March 1942

See also

• Trawlers of the Royal Navy