Talk:MTB 102

Moving
I reverted the name for readability as much as that common practice seems to put a space between MTB and the number. GraemeLeggett 20:51, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)


 * According to Naming conventions (ships) the article should be named HMS MTB102 for consistency with HMS A1, HMS E11, HMS M1 etc. But maybe there's a good reason for it to be different? Gdr 21:17, 2005 Jun 14 (UTC)


 * It doesn't appear to have a pennant number per se, consider the examples of U 238 etc. I am looking for examples of how the Navy did it. GraemeLeggett 21:34, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)


 * I've found no examples of MTB's taking HMS before there number. so it goes to "MTB 102" GraemeLeggett 09:28, 15 July 2005 (UTC)

DONT BELIVE ANT THING

Wartime service
You can find some details of wartime service here.
 * 9 Aug 1939 Review of the British Reserve Fleet - and other units, totalling 133 ships, took place in Weymouth Bay. King George VI arrived in the yacht VICTORIA and ALBERT on the 8th......motor torpedo boats  MTB.22, MTB.102
 * 10 Jun 1940 3rd Motor Torpedo Boat Flotilla (Training Flotilla) - MTB.100 (Lt S L B Maybury) arr 6 Jun,  MTB.102 (Lt C W S Dreyer) arr 5 Jun, both arr  Portsmouth
 * And others

Confusion between MTB 102 and HSL 102
On at least two occasions editors have confused this article by getting mixed up between MTB 102 and HSL 102. In December 2011 an editor included a photo of HSL 102; I have reverted thhat addition and a subsequent edit arising from that confusion. The 2 boats are listed separately in Coastal_Forces_of_the_Royal_Navy, and in other sources. It would be wise to keep an eye open for similar confusion in future. - David Biddulph (talk) 01:46, 25 March 2012 (UTC)

Jubilee Pageant
I've removed the claim that MTB 102 was the only Second World War Navy vessel at the 2012 Queen's Diamond Jubilee Pageant. ML 1397 Medusa was there, as were numerous Dunkirk Little Ships (although not necessarily Navy, they were in wartime service). Ranger Steve  Talk  15:09, 4 November 2013 (UTC)

D-day inspection
The article mentions that the boat was used, in 1944, as the craft aboard which both Churchill & Eisenhower rode to inspect the D-day invasion fleet. Would this really be so?

MTB 102 was a small vessel with poor seakeeping and very little space. Giving a poor ride at any speed above slow in any water except flat calm, she would have been a very cramped little boat for the two most important men in the British Isles at the time aside from the King. There seems to be a dearth of images of this event, in any case.

As far as the King himself goes, His Majesty inspected the Invasion Fleet from the decks of HMS Scylla (a light cruiser) and transferred from her decks to shore via the Fairmile Type 'B' Rescue Motor Launch RML 529. This boat had plenty of extra freeboard, plus an enclosed deckhouse aft (for use originally as a sickbay) which would have permitted HRH to be inside a cabin should he have needed to. Moreover, her size and fullness of hull, together with her extensive self-defence armament of 2-pdr, Oerlikon and MGs would have afforded both a better ride and better protection for her VIP passenger.

An image of the RML, flying the Royal Standard, is available on IWM: https://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205155692

As i say, no similar photo of Churchill & Eisenhower on board a very small, weakly-gunned, old MTB seems to be discoverable by myself. Yet many images exist of both men together, in posed publicity shots taken during wartime, so this absence of evidence seems an oddity.

The MTB had already been transferred away from flotilla duties (and a training flotilla at that) to the RASC. Would such an obscure old and small boat really have been brought back into regular service to be Ike's taxi? Or would they have used something newer, in better condition, better self-defending, roomier and more suitable for the role of motor yacht?

This seems very dubious. 2A00:23C7:3119:AD01:3CC3:E6B0:BEA9:DC74 (talk) 20:17, 24 July 2023 (UTC)