German trawler V 420 Alcyon

Alcyon was a French fishing trawler that was seized in the Second World War by the Kriegsmarine for use as a harbour defence boat and later a vorpostenboot, serving as Boot 10 Alcyon and V 420 Alcyon. She was bombed and sunk in the Gironde on 3 August 1943.

Description
Alcyon was 40.74 m long, with a beam of 6.60 m. She had a depth of 9 ft, and a draught of 3.56 m. She was assessed at,. She was powered by a triple expansion steam engine, which had cylinders of 13 in, 21+1/2 in and 35 in diameter by 24 in stroke. The engine was made by Alblasserdamsche Machienfabriek, Alblasserdam, South Holland, Netherlands. It was rated at 60nhp. The engine powered a single screw propeller. It could propel the ship at 10 kn.

History
Alcyon was built as yard number 163 by Bonn & Mees, Rotterdam, South Holland in 1904 for French owners. The Code Letters OBNH were allocated, as was the fishing boat registration B 2892. By 1930, she was owned by Bourgain-Vincent, Boulogne. In 1934, her Code Letters were changed to FNOH. She was sold to E. Malfoy & Fils in that year.

On 26 June 1940, Alcyon was seized by the Germans at La Rochelle, Charente-Inférieure. She was allocated to the Hafenschutz-Flotille Lorient on 2 November, serving as Boot 10 Alcyon. On 4 May 1942, Alcyon was redesignated as a vorpostenboot. She was allocated to 4 Vorpostenflotille as V 420 Alcyon. On 2 August 1943, she was sunk in the Gironde in an attack by British aircraft with the loss of five of her crew.