Ocean boarding vessel

Ocean boarding vessels (OBVs) were merchant ships taken over by the Royal Navy for the purpose of enforcing wartime blockades by intercepting and boarding foreign vessels.

Ships

Ship	Date launched/ completed	Date requisitioned/ commissioned	History
Catapult Armed Ship". Used for convoy escort
HMS Empire Audacity	29 Mar 1939	11 Nov 1940	Former German ship Hannover captured 7/8 March 1940; converted to escort aircraft carrier 1941; sunk by U-751, 21 December 1941
infantry landing and headquarters ship 1943; returned to civilian service after the war in 1945; scrapped 1959.
SS Inanda	1925	11 August 1940	Bombed and sunk on 7 September 1940. Salvaged and converted to cargo ship Empire Explorer, never saw service as an ocean boarding vessel. Torpedoed and sunk in July 1942.
SS Inkosi	1937	11 August 1940	Bombed and sunk on 7 September 1940. Salvaged and converted to cargo ship Empire Chivalry, never saw service as an ocean boarding vessel. Sold postwar and renamed Planter. Scrapped 1958.
Arctic convoy OB 288 and sunk 24 February 1941, no survivors
Fighter catapult ship in 1940. Sank after attacked by German aircraft 1941
Cape Cornwall 27 May 1941; repaired and returned to merchant use Nov 1941; sunk 29 Sep, 1942[6]

Notes

1. ^ Helgason, Guðmundur (1995-2010). "HMS Camito (F 77)". uboat.net. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/906.html. Retrieved 30 Jan 2010. 
2. ^ Helgason, Guðmundur (1995-2010). "Inversuir". uboat.net. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/967.html. Retrieved 30 Jan 2010. 
3. ^ Helgason, Guðmundur (1995-2010). "HMS Crispin". uboat.net. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/751.html. Retrieved 30 Jan 2010. 
4. ^ ^{a b} Mason, Geoff. "ROYAL NAVY VESSELS LOST AT SEA, ATLANTIC & ARCTIC 1939-45". http://www.naval-history.net/WW2BritishLossesbyArea01.htm. Retrieved 16 July 2010. 
5. ^ Stephenson-Knight, Marilyn (2006-10). "World War II - Page, C. P.". THE DOVER WAR MEMORIAL PROJECT. http://www.doverwarmemorialproject.org.uk/Casualties/WWIInot/SurnamesP.htm. Retrieved 30 Jan 2010. 
6. ^ Helgason, Guðmundur (1995-2010). "Registan". uboat.net. http://www.uboat.net/allies/merchants/ships/2223.html. Retrieved 30 Jan 2010. 

References

• Cocker, M Aircraft-carrying ships of the Royal Navy, The History Press 2008 ISBN 978 0 7524 4633 2