T F 1 1917

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Ship Name

Name:	T F 1 (this was a name not a pennant number)
Type:	Train Ferry
Launched:	03/08/1917
Completed:	11/1917
Builder:	Armstrong, Whitworth & Co Ltd
Yard:	Low Walker
Yard Number:	921
Dimensions:	2683grt, 1085nrt, 350.6 x 58.7 x 15.5ft
Engines:	2 x T3cyl (18, 29 & 47 x 27ins), 403nhp
Engines by:	Wallsend Slipway & Engineering Co Ltd, Wallsend
Propulsion:	2 x Screws, 12.0knots
Construction:	Steel
Reg Number:	n/a; (1921: 145233)

History:
11/1917	War Office (British Army)
06/06/1921	Port of Queenborough Development Co Ltd, London; renamed TRAIN FERRY NO 1
1923	Great Eastern Train Ferries Ltd, London
1934	London & North-Eastern Railway, London
09/1940	British Royal Navy; renamed IRIS
09/1942	Renamed PRINCESS IRIS
06/1946	London & North-Eastern Railway, London; renamed ESSEX FERRY
01/01/1948	British Transport Commission, Harwich
1956	Renamed ESSEX FERRY II
26/02/1957	Broken up

Comments:	Designed to help alleviate the bottlenecks at the Channel ports during WW1.
	Conventional ships were loaded with all sorts of heavy and bulky war materiel and then unloaded after a very short journey by sea. Roll-on roll-off train ferries were seen as a way round this problem. They were designed to be used from the new Military Port of Richborough in Kent but started service between Southampton and Dieppe as Richborough was not complete.
	The War Office ordered three vessels despite the objections of the Admiralty about being a waste of time and effort and that they would not provide the service required. All the objections were disproved in practice and the first vessel entered service 11 months after Cabinet approval had been given for the project.
	They had four sets of rails along the train deck & used a link span to load when in harbour. The greatest vindication for the design was the carriage of two siege guns each weighing 189 tons that were rolled onto the normal cargo deck.
	Armed with 5 x 1 x 20mm guns
	All three were laid up after 1922
	1923: Used on the Harwich and Zeebrugge (and briefly to Calais) service
	1941: Converted to a Landing Craft Carrier, the twin funnels were incorporated into a single stack. Capable of carrying 14 landing craft in the train deck (launched via a stern chute) and 4 more by crane on the upper deck. She spent most of her time ferrying landing craft to southern ports. After the Normandy invasion, she ferried damaged craft back to the UK. In August 1944 she was re-converted to carry locomotives from Southampton to Cherbourg and Dieppe, but by 1945 she was again ferrying landing craft.
	1946: Returned to the Harwich and Zeebrugge service
	26/02/1957: Broken up by TW Ward at Grays, Essex

Above: One of the 3 ferries in 1919 showing that they could be used for road transport as well as trains

Above photo as ESSEX FERRY at Palmers' for post war modifications. Photo is courtesy of Kevin Blair