HMS Selkirk (J18)


HMS Selkirk was a Hunt-class minesweeper of the Aberdare sub-class built for the Royal Navy during World War I. She was not finished in time to participate in the First World War and survived the Second World War to be sold for scrap in 1947.

Design and description

The Aberdare sub-class were enlarged versions of the original Hunt-class ships with a more powerful armament. The ships displaced at normal load. They had a length between perpendiculars of and measured long overall. The Aberdares had a beam of and a draught of. The ships' complement consisted of 74 officers and ratings.
The ships had two vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, using steam provided by two Yarrow boilers. The engines produced a total of and gave a maximum speed of. They carried a maximum of of coal which gave them a range of at.
The Aberdare sub-class was armed with a quick-firing gun forward of the bridge and a QF twelve-pounder anti-aircraft gun aft. Some ships were fitted with six- or three-pounder guns in lieu of the twelve-pounder.

Construction and career

The ship was named after the Scottish town of Selkirk.
Following a successful Warship Week National Savings campaign in March 1942 she was adopted by the civil community of Thorne, near Doncaster in the West Riding of Yorkshire.