Feature 6 | RESTORATION Medway Queen – Heroine of Dunkirk
Work has already started on building the replica fully riveted hull replacement for this historical paddle steamer.
large numbers around the UK’s coasts before and immediately aſter the Second World War. It was built in 1924 by the Ailsa Shipyard Company in Troon, Scotland, for the Medway Steam Packet Company for service on the Medway and Tames rivers. Its construction was based on a “very lightly built” approach, built under survey as a class VI passenger ship. During the Second World War it
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was converted into a minesweeper and played a major role in the Dunkirk troop evacuation. It was one of the first ships to arrive at the start of the evacuation and one of the last ships to leave. Over a period of six days and nights the Medway Queen made seven return trips rescuing a total of 7000 men. During the final trip it was severely damaged and reported as missing but eventually limped safely back to Dover on a single paddle. It continued to act as a minesweeper until
1942 and finished its wartime service as a training ship. Aſter the war, it was rebuilt at Admiralty expense and reverted back to its passenger role. Eventually retiring from service in 1963, it was used as a marina clubhouse on the Isle of Wight. In 1984, although little more than a rusting hulk, it was bought by businessmen and returned to the Medway. However, soon aſterwards it sank and remained on the river bottom for the next ten years until the Medway Queen Preservation Society managed to re-float it. On 6 June 2005, the society received
a project planning grant of £35,900 (US$65,101 at 2005 exchange rates) to enable consultants Frazer-Nash Consultancy Limited to assess the likely cost of restoring the vessel. The survey report concluded that it was too late to save the majority of the hull but it did provide a list of significant components and structural details that could be saved. Quotes where obtained from three shipyards for building a replica hull incorporating all these
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he Medway Queen was designed for use as a conventional estuary paddle steamer, a type seen in
Medway Queen quayside at Damhead Creek, off the river Medway (credit: Frazer Nash Consultancy Ltd).
original components and structural details. On the basis of this work the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded the society a grant of £1.8million towards the replica hull. In October 2008, the contract to build this hull was given to David Abels owner of the Albion Dry Dock in Bristol. Frazer-Nash Consultancy Limited
is project managing the construction of the new hull for the Medway Queen Preservation Trust. Te Heritage Lottery Fund have insisted that new hull replaces like with like, this means it will be a fully riveted steel structure as per the 1920’s original and would be constructed as an exact replica as closely as can be achieved within the constraints of material availability and the budget.
Riveted steel construction Tis could well be the first riveted steel hull constructed in the UK since the late 1940’s and there are very few people alive today who have first hand experience of shipyard riveted structures. Tere are of course many people who still rivet steam engine and traction engine boilers, but
it is likely that they may only put in a handful of rivets at any one time using a hand held pneumatic gun. A ship’s hull, even one as small as that of the Medway Queen, contains tens of thousands of rivets and needs to be built to a timescale that requires a few hundred acceptable rivets to be driven each day. Abels is now looking at a variety of techniques that will enable them to make the riveting process repeatable, and produce the correct results in the type of quantities needed to meet the production schedule. The initial problem is to identify a
suitable specification for the rivets to be used. Tere are existing British Standards on these, although they are defined principally for structural and boiler use, and not necessarily marine structures. A
TECHNICAL PARTICULARS Medway Queen
Length, oa.........................................54.86m Draught................................................2.32m Breadth, max ......................................7.39m Gross tonnage ....................................316grt
Ship & Boat International March/April 2009
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