Registration number 1009
Status Registered
a12admin

Previous names

  • 1943 - 1960 HMS MFV 943

Details

Function Fighting Vessel
Subfunction Tender
Location Tarbert
Vessel type MFV
Current use Private use
Available to hire No
Available for excursions No
Info required Yes

Construction

Builder Hepburn, James & Son, Aberdeen
Built in 1943
Hull material Wood
Rig Ketch
Number of decks 1
Number of masts 2
Propulsion Motor
Number of engines 1
Primary engine type Diesel
Boiler type None
Boilermaker None

Dimensions

Breadth: Beam
15.30 feet (4.75m)
Depth
5.90 feet (1.95m)
Length: Overall
49.90 feet (14.26m)
Tonnage: Gross
34.00

History

BLACK CAT II was constructed by James V Hepburn in Aberdeen and named HMS MFV 943.  James Hepburn constructed three MFVs during the war - numbers 943, 944 and 945 of the 601 class.

She was one of a batch of 16 Admiralty 45ft Class MFVs ordered on 19 January 1943, completed at the end of the same year and fitted with a 60hp Atlantice Diesel giving 7.5 knots. The armament for the vessel was a .303" AA machine gun and was sailed with a crew of four.

Based in Plymouth in 1944, Portsmouth in 1945 and re-engined with a Foden in November 1957, BLACK CAT II was sold out of service at Gosport on 22 May 1958.  She was registered as BLACK CAT II (PoR Southampton) in 1960.  This name is believed to be derived from the naval slang 'Blackcatting' which is a term for one-upmanship, doing or owning something better than someone else.

Since being sold out of service, she has been converted and cruised extensively around the Meditettanean and then back up to Scotland.

in the 1980s, the vessel was used as a live-aboard in Littlehampton and was based on the River Medina above Cowes between 1996 and 1999, apart from 1998 when she was moored in Keyhaven.

Since 2000, BLACK CAT II has been used mostly for summer cruises on the West coast of Scotland and has been berthed in Argyll since 2001.

We are lacking information about this particular vessel.  If you have any information about this vessel, past or present, please contact us.

Key dates

  • 1943 Built by James Hepburn & Son
  • 1944

    Based in Plymouth

  • 1945

    Based in Portsmouth

  • 1958

    Sold out of service on 22 May

  • 1960

    Registered as BLACK CAT II (PoR Southampton)

  • 2007

    Major restoration done

Own this vessel?

If you are the owner of this vessel and would like to provide more details or updated information, please contact info@nationalhistoricships.org.uk

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