Last Operational World War II Motor Boats Saved For The Nation

Two of the last remaining fully operational high-speed World War II motor boats have been saved for the nation today by Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust, with the help of a £580,000 grant from the National Heritage Memorial Fund (NHMF).

When built, they were among the fastest boats of their type in the world.  The boats represented pioneering technology when they were built just down the coast at Hythe near Southampton. They were known as the Spitfires of the Seas and effectively it was like riding on a massive petrol bomb. With 3,000 gallons of fuel on board, if they were hit in the fuel tank they simply exploded. And as they were only made of plywood and had no real armament they were extremely vulnerable.

Read the rest of the article. Thanks to David Hayes for passing along the article.