HMS Menestheus

MV Menestheus was a Blue Funnel Liner launched in 1929. She was requisitioned by the Royal Navy for conversion to the auxiliary minelayer HMS Menestheus. She joined the 1st Minelaying Squadron based at Kyle of Lochalsh (port ZA) laying mines for the World War II Northern Barrage. When minelaying was completed in October 1943, she was retained for conversion to an amenities ship as part of a mobile naval base for British Pacific Fleet warships. She underwent further conversion at Vancouver in 1944 including installation of a movie theater and canteen staffed by mercantile crews of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary service.[3] Conversion included a brewery to make beer for shipboard consumption. The ship had been painted grey for service in the North Atlantic, but was repainted white for service in the western Pacific.[4] Conversion was incomplete when hostilities with Japan ended, and she was returned to Blue Funnel Line in 1946.[1]

HMS Menestheus, departing Vancouver, Canada, September 1945


History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Menestheus
Launched: 1929[1]
Commissioned: 1940[2]
Fate: returned to Blue Funnel Line, 1946[2]
Notes: Pennant number: M93[2]
Class overview
Operators:  Royal Navy
In service: 1940–1943
General characteristics as built
Class and type: Auxiliary minelayer
Displacement: 7494 (GRT)[1]
Speed: 16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)[1]
Armament:

Notes
  1. Mason, Geoffrey B. "HMS Agamemnon – mercantile conversion, Auxiliary Minelayer". Service Histories of Royal Navy Warships in World War 2. edited by Gordon Smith. naval-history.net. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  2. Lenton & Colledge, pp.306 & 308
  3. Lenton & Colledge, pp.333 & 355
  4. "Royal Navy Amenity Ship MV Menestheus – The Floating Brewery". Colonial Film. Retrieved 18 March 2014.

References
  • Lenton, H.T.; Colledge, J.J. (1968). British and Dominion Warships of World War II. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company.
  • Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
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