Vosper 70 / 71 ft mid war MTB
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Vosper 70 / 71 ft mid war MTB
The Vosper 1940 was the design the Admiralty choose for mass production. Until 1943 the armament consisted of two 21” Torpedo tubes and a turret with two .500 Vickers MG. The model comes with four depth charges.
Not being able to fire the MG direct to the front was a problem. Anyway the damaging effect of the MG was not big. But the gunners often managed to hit enemy gun crews.
More important in the night actions was the blinding effect of tracer. The eyes loose night sight and you just see the tracer. In some 1942 boats the MG turret was replaced with a single 2cm.
But in 1943 Peter Dickens, the commanding Officer of MTB 234 and Senior Officer of 21st MTB Flotilla, asked for a 2cm added to the bow. The answer of the men with more gold on the arms than brain in the head was: Impossible. To mount the gun would add tons of structural strengthening. Well, his men managed a safe mounting without sinking the boat. The alteration was added to many more Vosper.1943/44 saw the coming of working Radar on Vosper. The old types had an effective range below eyesight in the night and alerted the enemy. Other problems stayed. The wedding of the Vosper hull with the American Packard engines was far from perfect. For many operations Flotilla leaders had to borrow a boat from another to get the minimum two on the way. And petrol added hazards the Diesel S-Boote did not have.
As usual on my boats I scratch built masts. The lower part was rectangular so I used plastic strips. The upper part was rounded, I used steel wire. The details are from metal and plastic. There had been many variations.
For the post 43 boat with 2cm I added the prominent railing. Made from a soft metal wire bend into loop and with struts first glued to the deck and then to the loop. The hulls got dirt signs of use.
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My bases are made from wood with waves from wood filler. That modern water based stuff has not the smell of the old and is not shrinking.
The sides are in a mid grey, the decks in a darker one. And the walkways on foredeck are painted in even darker color.
I will do more Vosper in the future, perhaps even the famous MTB 74 that had the TT moved to foredeck so that they could fire over the boom defense in St. Nazaire raid.Attachments:
Thursday evening small project, a Vosper 1942. Built in USA by Annapolis Yacht Yard following Vosper plans.
In British Service many “Annavosper 42” had the aft MG turret replaced with a twin 2cm, IO scratched here. Three 2cm, a lot of punch for such a small vessel.
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