Ocean boarding vessels (OBVs) were merchant ships taken over by the Royal Navy during the Second World War for the purpose of enforcing wartime blockades by intercepting and boarding foreign vessels.
Ships
ShipDate launched/ completedDate requisitioned/ commissionedHistory1926Converted to "Catapult Armed Ship". Used for convoy escortJune 191526 September 1940Torpedoed and sunk 6 May 1941HMS CavinaAugust 1940July 1942Converted from a banana boat. Returned to Elders & FyffesRescued survivors of October 1942 Rescued survivors of 14 March 1943.1935August 1940Sunk 4 February 1941 after torpedo attack previous dayHMS Empire Audacity29 March 193911 November 1940Former German ship Hannover captured 7/8 March 1940 and put into British service. Commissioned as Ocean boarding vessel in November 1940 but sent for conversion to escort aircraft carrier in January 1941.28 September 1925 August 1940The cross channel steamer was requisitioned by the Admiralty as a Barrage Balloon Vessel, converted to Ocean Boarding Vessel in 1943. She was sunk off Normandy by a Neger manned torpedo 18 August 1944.17 April 193121 January 1941Former Hilary; restored as a merchantman 15 April 1942; recommissioned as an infantry landing and headquarters ship 1943; returned to civilian service after the war in 1945; scrapped 1959.192511 August 1940Bombed 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 1942.193711 August 1940Bombed 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 1958.1929Requisitioned by Admiralty in 1940. Sunk by Italian submarine in N Atlantic, 15 July 1941.19381941French ship Charles Plumier in 1938; seized by Royal Navy; returned to France 1945; sold to a Greek company and renamed Pleias 1964; scrapped 19681937Abandoned after being bombed, North Atlantic, 19 July 194119201940Sailed with Atlantic convoy OB 288. Sunk 24 February 1941, no survivorsParticipated in locating German supply ships after Bismarck had been sunk1932Formerly Erin. Converted to Fighter catapult ship 1940.1922Converted to Fighter catapult ship in 1940. Sank after attacked by German aircraft 1941193013 September 1940Bombed off Cape Cornwall 27 May 1941; repaired and returned to merchant use November 1941; sunk 29 September 1942
See also Armed boarding steamer – British vessels of similar purpose in First World War Hired armed vessels – British vessels that performed convoy escort duties, anti-privateer patrols, and ran errands during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars, and earlier.
Notes
References Cocker, M Aircraft-carrying ships of the Royal Navy, The History Press 2008