Landing craft in use as River cruise. LCT? LCG? LCS?

[Alex van de Wetering]

I was riding my push bike yesterday, when this river cruise came passing by. I thought the stern looked suspiciously like a Landing craft......and than there was the name "Sir Winston".

My first though was a modified LCT, but it looked too narrow....

After a search on the interwebs I found "Sir Winston" is indeed a former WW2 boat....built in 1944/45 by Furguson in Glasgow for the Royal Navy. It was converted to a river cruise post war and also stretched later on.
The exact WW2 history is unknown, but somewhere I read the rumour that it was a "Destroyer". This seems unlikely as Destroyers were a lot longer and the hull shape different.
Too narrow to be an LCT III or IV.....the stern too narrow for a British LCI, so I am thinking it might have started life as a Landing Craft Support; LCS(L) or more likely a Landing Craft Gun; LCG(M). I think the latter as the hull seems to be spot on.....and given the fact that the untrained eye could easily mistake this for a Destroyer.

Alex

[Alex van de Wetering]

I decided to use the marinetraffic radar to check the location of the ship today and have a closer look. Pictures are attached. Bow and stern are full of rivets, while the "stretched" centre section is welded. The crew didn't know more of it's history apart from the fact that it's ex-RN from ww2.
The winch at the back is dated 1944.

[Alex van de Wetering]

Attached is a picture of Winston before being stretched and still under the old name "Victoria Regia". Also attached is an IWM picture of an LCG (M) and an LCS (L)....as a Rocket ship. I actually think the LCG (M) and LCS (L) might have used the same hull, but I haven't found any measurements or info to confirm this.

An LCSR survives as a house boat in Stockholm, by the way!

source for the Victoria Regia picture: http://www.debinnenvaart.nl/binnenva...tekst=feenstra
IWM pictures: https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections

Alex

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Amazing find after following your gut instinct and doing good field research!

[Alex van de Wetering]

Amazing find after following your gut instinct and doing good field research!

Hanno, of course we won't mention the 9 other times I chased ships through the country that turned out to be non WW2

[Matthew P]

Wow! Between the superstructure and the hull stretching I'm amazed you spotted the old girl!

Matt

[Danny]

Hello Alex,
Nice photos. It is a Landing Craft Gun(Medium) as you thought.

The Landing Craft Gun(Medium) and the Landing Craft Support(Rocket) did use the same hull.

Only two of Landing Craft Support(Rocket) were completed.

I am not sure if the one in Stockholm is a LCS(R) or a LCG(M). It is marked up as “LCSR 3” for some reason.

Regards

Danny

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Alex van de Wetering

Hanno, of course we won't mention the 9 other times I chased ships through the country that turned out to be non WW2

Practice makes perfect!

Next question: which one of the 56 LCG(M)'s completed was it?
http://www.navypedia.org/ships/uk/brit_aws_lcgm1.htm

H.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Alex van de Wetering

Also attached is an IWM picture of an LCG (M)

This is LCG(M) 101, which took part in Operation Infatuate II on 1 November 1944.

LCG(M) 101 was one of two support craft purposely designed to engage German beach defences at point-blank range with the 17-pdr anti-tank guns mounted in their two offset turrets. Gun platform stability was enhanced by 'flooding down' on the beach, by filling special tanks with sea water.

LCG(M) 101 beached at 0945hrs, and scored 15 direct hits on pillbox W267 to no effect, the 17-pdrs penetrating just halfway through its 10-foot-thick (3m) walls. Immobilized on the hostile shore, however, the craft made an easy target for German direct-fire weapons taking the beach in enfilade. Neither of the LCG(M)s committed at Walcheren survived their first operation. LCG(M) 102 was burnt out and lost with all 41 hands. Riddled with holes along her port side, LCG(M) 101 retracted from the beach using her kedge anchor, but sank stern first half a mile offshore at 1025hrs. Remarkably only two of her crew were lost, killed by machine-gun fire while working the kedge. All the rest were saved, thanks to the calm and discipline of her complement of sailors and marines.

The wreck of LCG(M) 101 still rests on the sea bed off the coast of Westkapelle: https://wrecksite.eu/wreck.aspx?4261

Read more here: https://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=140647


© IWM (A 26236)
A landing craft gun (medium) (almost certainly LCG (M) 101) crew fighting to save their shell ridden and sinking craft during the landing by Royal Marine commandos on the island of Walcheren at Westkapelle the most western point of the island, during the final phase of the battle to free the Belgian port of Antwerp.


© IWM (A 26233)
A landing craft gun (medium) (almost certainly LCG (M) 101) sinking with crew abandoning ship after she was hit by shore batteries during the landing by Royal Marine commandos on the island of Walcheren at Westkapelle, the most western point of the island. Smoke of the battle on shore is in the background. One of the LCG's 17 pounder gun turrets can be clearly seen; also note the man just about to strike the water and another preparing to jump, near the turret.

[tankbarrell]

Found this whilst researching 17 pdr manufacture.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by tankbarrell

Found this whilst researching 17 pdr manufacture.

Great find, Adrian - thanks.

[Hanno Spoelstra]

Originally Posted by Alex van de Wetering

After a search on the interwebs I found "Sir Winston" is indeed a former WW2 boat....built in 1944/45 by Furguson in Glasgow for the Royal Navy. It was converted to a river cruise post war and also stretched later on.

Current description can be found here: https://www.best-biketours.com/en/cr...on?language=en

It is used for tours "by bike and boat", so guests can take their bike on board for a very peaceful discovery of The Netherlands - how much more Dutch can it get?!?

H.

The MS Sir Winston is a mid-sized river cruise ship that can carry a maximum of 68 passengers.

built in 1945
length: 67 m (220 ft), width: 7 m (23 ft), load draft: 1,60 m (5,3 ft)
crew 10 men/women
sails under a Dutch flag
2 decks, the main and the promenade deck

[tankbarrell]

The mountings were made by Baker Perkins.

The 17/25 Pdr Mounting
A.I Baker recalled - "Early in 1943 we were asked if we would collaborate with the Armament Design Department and the Director of Naval Ordnance in getting out drawings for a heavily armoured turret which was known as the 17/25 Pdr Mounting. This was designed for mounting on a special landing craft and in effect was like a very large floating tank, its purpose being to blast out pillboxes in amphibious operations. This job was extremely urgent and we agreed to help. In August the drawings were finished and we were given an order to produce a number of mountings. We were to push two Pilot Models ahead and in December 1943 we produced our pilots. Certain small troubles were experienced with these but they were quickly overcome and we went into full production in April 1944".

Jim Deboo recalls one of the "certain small troubles" noted above. Apparently, the baseplate for this mounting required many hours of machining - with a labourer constantly in attendance to take away the swarf. When complete, because of the urgency, the Navy insisted that they would fit the mounting but forgot to fit a very important cam, with the result that, when traversing through 360 degrees, it shot its own bridge away!

Production ceased at the end of the war when a total of 78 had been completed.

I wonder if time has confused the 17/25 pdr Pheasant with the Naval mounting or if it was referred to as such to act as a cover!

The story here. http://www.westwoodworks.net/HowItWa...ksInWW2/08.htm

[Danny]

Hi,
The 17pdr or the 25pdr could be fitted into the turret of the LCG(M).

The LCG(M) Mk 1 were to be a mix of craft carrying either the 17pdr or 25pdr and the LCG(M) Mk 2 were to carry the 25pdr.

Photo FL 5990 on the IWM website shows LCG(M) 103 with the 25pdr fitted. https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/i...ject/205120518

Regards

Danny

[Alex van de Wetering]

Thanks everyone for the enthusiastic replies, confirmation and additional info.

I saw "Sir Winston" again two weeks ago; as Hanno pointed it out, the ship does regular bike tours in the area and a colleague of mine also recognized the ship and informed me that it's regularly moored in Amsterdam, near the ferry to the Central Station.

Next question: which one of the 56 LCG(M)'s completed was it?

Maybe, if you were allowed to inspect the inside of the ship, one could find the original registration somewhere(?)

Found this whilst researching 17 pdr manufacture.

Terrific picture, Adrian!

Danny, good to see you on the forum again!

Alex

[Alex van de Wetering]

Some more info on the post-war history of "Sir Winston":

Mutatiedatum 1945
Naam LMNG ?
Eigenaar Royal Navy in Glasgow

Mutatiedatum 1962
Naam VICTORIA REGIA
Eigenaar W.F. Feenstra & K. Feenstra in Rotterdam

Mutatiedatum 1968
Naam VICTORIA REGIA
Eigenaar W.F. Feenstra in Rotterdam

Mutatiedatum 1981
Naam VICTORIA REGIA
Eigenaar O. Slokkers Scheepvaartbedrijf BV in Zwijndrecht

Mutatiedatum 1982
Naam VICTORIA REGIA
Eigenaar Victoria Regia Vof in Zwijndrecht

Mutatiedatum 1985
Naam VICTORIA REGIA
Eigenaar A.G. Brant in Alphen a/d Rijn

Mutatiedatum 1993
Naam VICTORIA REGIA
Eigenaar J.C. v/d Engel in 's-Gravendeel

Mutatiedatum 1994
Naam VICTORIA REGIA
Eigenaar Bonaventura BV in 's-Gravendeel

Mutatiedatum 2008
Naam SIR WINSTON
Eigenaar Goldberg Ventures BV in Lunteren

The ship was converted to river cruise, and presumably also stretched later on, by "Wijtro BV" in Rotterdam-IJsselmonde.

source: https://www.binnenvaart.eu/rijksvaar...5873-lmng.html

[maple_leaf_eh]

The last photo album now makes me want to take a bike and hike tour on the Sir Winston! Let's hope the food is worth the seasickness.