RN Depot, Repair and Support Ships:

[Brian James]

Torpedo Boat Depot Ship HMS Vulcan pictured post her conversion to a Submarine Depot & Repair Ship, pictured moored at Newport, Fife with her Submarines c1912....As naval tension with Germany increased in the years before World War I, in 1909 the Admiralty took out a 5-year lease of part of Dundee harbour as a shore base for a North Sea Submarine Flotilla. Dundee was chosen because of its graving dock, shore facilities and the fact that the River Tay was a tricky one for enemy craft to navigate. Newport afforded a good anchorage for the Submarines and for HMS Vulcan, the Repair Ship attached to the flotilla. Vulcan, nine Submarines and two Torpedo Destroyers were based here. Vulcan was moored in the river just off Newport, so there was much activity to be seen from the village..By the time the lease had run out, World War I had started, and the building of the Rosyth Naval Base on the Forth resulted in the Submarines moving there.

[Brian James]

Passenger Liner for Cunard-White Star Line, RMS Queen Elizabeth pictured as she towers above the Submarine Depot Ship HMS Maidstone as she is being built at John Brown & Company Shipyards at Clydebank on April 20th 1936.

[Brian James]

Submarine Tender HMS Vulcan pictured with R Class R-10 and H Class H-23 at Blyth in 1918.

[Brian James]

Submarine Depot Ship HMS Titania pictured in 1937, most of those that saw service in the First World War were scrapped in the 1930s. Titania, however, saw service in the Second World War also. Titania was built at the Clyde Shipbuilding Co. Glasgow, originally as a merchant ship ordered by Royal Hungarian Sea Navigation Company Adria as Károly Ferencz József. She was launched in March 1915 and commissioned by the RN in November 1915. She was scrapped in 1948/1949 at Faslane.

[Brian James]

Tank Landing Ship HMS Messina pictured c 1945...She was built at Scotts Shipyards, Greenock, and launched on April 27th 1945 as LST 3043. She was re-named HMS Messina in 1947 and paid off on July 7th 1965. She became a store hulk at Porthmouth and was finally scrapped in 1980.
In 1956 HMS Messina was the headquarters and communications ship for Operation Grapple.