Victualling Inshore Craft

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VIC 32

Victualling Inshore Crafts (VIC) were series-built coastal cargo ships in Great Britain during World War II . They belong to the group of Empire ships .

description

The ships were built on behalf of the Ministry of War Transport (MOWT) and were divided into the types of VIC-Clyde buffers and VIC-Coastal-Lighter.

The design of the VIC Clyde buffer type was based on the lines of the ships Anxac and Lascar, built in 1939 . The Clyde Puffer is a small inland and coastal cargo ship type, which was initially used from around 1850 on Scottish canals, later also in the estuaries of the Forth and Clyde and finally on the entire Scottish west coast to the Hebrides. During the Second World War, new tasks arose for this type of ship, such as supplying the fleet, which prompted the government to order the construction of the so-called Victualling Inshore Craft (VIC). From 1941 to 1946, another 63 VIC-Clyde buffers were created. Nine of them were equipped with a steam engine, the remaining 54 had diesel engines. With a length of 20.50 meters, they were designed for a load-bearing capacity of around 140 tons. The ships had no forecastle above the main deck , a raised poop with the deckhouse above the engine room on which the wheelhouse lay behind the chimney .

The VIC Coastal Lighters were constructed a little differently. They were also designed as pure coastal ships and were always steam-powered, but built in two lengths. The ships had a forecastle , a pulled-down main deck, and a deckhouse positioned very aft above the raised poop and engine room . The 33 built dry freighters with a length of 20.50 meters had a load capacity of around 165 tons, the 15 built VIC tankers were 29.60 meters long and had a load capacity of around 170 tons. The latter were intended for service with the South East Asia Command (SEAC) in the Far East.

The units were built and maintained at various shipyards such as Richard Dunston in Hessle, J. Harker in Knottingley, I. Pimblott & Sons in Northwich, J. Pollock & Sons in Faversham, Richards Ironworks in Lowestoft, Rowhedge Ironworks in Wivenhoe and others Names beginning with the prefix VIC with an appended number.

literature

  • Mitchell, William H .; Sawyer, Leonard A .: Empire Ships of World War II . Sea Breezes, Liverpool 1965.