HMS Selkirk (J18)

HMS Selkirk was a Hunt-class minesweeper of the Aberdare sub-class built for the Royal Navy during World War I. She was not finished in time to participate in the First World War and survived the Second World War to be sold for scrap in 1947.

Design and description
The Aberdare sub-class were enlarged versions of the original Hunt-class ships with a more powerful armament. The ships displaced 800 LT at normal load. They had a length between perpendiculars of 220 ft and measured 231 ft long overall. The Aberdares had a beam of 26 ft and a draught of 7 ft. The ships' complement consisted of 74 officers and ratings.

The ships had two vertical triple-expansion steam engines, each driving one shaft, using steam provided by two Yarrow boilers. The engines produced a total of 2200 ihp and gave a maximum speed of 16 kn. They carried a maximum of 185 LT of coal which gave them a range of 1500 nmi at 15 kn.

The Aberdare sub-class was armed with a quick-firing (QF) 4 in gun forward of the bridge and a QF twelve-pounder (76.2 mm) anti-aircraft gun aft. Some ships were fitted with six- or three-pounder guns in lieu of the twelve-pounder.

Construction and career
The ship was named after the Scottish town of Selkirk.

Following a successful Warship Week National Savings campaign in March 1942 she was adopted by the civil community of Thorne, near Doncaster in the West Riding of Yorkshire.