Name Pinnace 1374

Pinnace 1374 was built by Groves and Gutteridge, at Cowes, Isle of Wight in 1955 as yard no. 556, having been ordered on contract in 1955. She is of double diagonal mahogany construction and has a Rolls Royce diesel engine model C65FLM series 113. The 63 ft pinnace was the workhorse of the post-war RAF Marine Craft fleet, widely used in the UK and overseas bases for lifting and laying of marine and aircraft moorings, the recovery of torpedos, sonar buoys and other practice weapons dropped on exercise, towing and cargo carrying duties, and assisting with aircrew sea survival exercises and helicopter rescue crew training.  

 After trials, 1374 was accepted by the RAF and taken on charge on the 1st October 1955, being allotted to 1102 MCU to be based at Falmouth.  She joined the GSP 1371 at the base and remained there for nearly two years before she was returned to 238 MU at Calshot for a survey and report. On completion of the survey, she went back to 1102 MCU where she replaced the 60ft pinnace 1262.  Approximately a year later she returned once again to Calshot, this time for modifications.  After her second visit to Calshot, 1374 was painted in overseas colours and allocated to serve at Gan.  This was a new establishment for the 63ft pinnaces and thus 1374 became the first of her type to serve at the base.  In March 1960, an RAF Hastings aircraft crashed into the sea at Gan.  Some 18 personnel took to a dinghy and were picked up by an RTTL, but two others who had drifted away from the Hastings were recovered by GSP 1374.  She remained at Gan through to 1965 when she returned to the UK for category 4 repairs.  She was lifted onto a cargo ship and transported back to the UK.  

After a survey and repairs, 1374 was retained in storage at Mount Batten for over three years.  Her next allotment saw her return to Falmouth to replace GSP 1372.  She remained there until the closure of the facility in 1974.  1374 was then allocated to be stored at RN Gunboat Yard, Haslar, Gosport where she stayed for just over three years.  Towards the end of her time at Haslar, 1374 was given a ten week refit in No. 1 Dock at Portsmouth Naval Base which was completed on 31 October 1977 before going back into storage at Mount Batten.  On 6 March 1978, she was transferred to Holyhead where she remained in service until closure of the RAF Marine Craft Branch in 1986. 

 At this time, the RAF Marine Craft Branch was contracted out and overseen by a specialist RAF cell in London. 1374 remained in her RAF colour scheme but, lacking a commissioned officer in charge, flew a defaced blue ensign.  Post 1991, former RAF craft were operated under contracts, at which time they lost their roundels and RAF pennant numbers.  1374 remained based at Holyhead and was given several different colour schemes.  She was operated under contract to AV Seaworks, then VT Marine Services and ultimately, in 2001, by Smit International (Scotland) Ltd. In 2002, she went out of service and was delivered in a dissassembled state to the RAF Museum at Hendon where she has since been reassembled for external display.