Are Royal Navy lauches registered ?

I own a 1970's Cheverton MSB (motor survey boat) 9 meter (medium) which came off the HMS Bulldog A317.
I have been considering using the boat commercially again but require original information
which I am finding difficult to get hold of.
I need to find proof that the boat was built to class and if they were registered with lloyds
or similar it would be a big help.
Do the Royal navy register there tenders, launches, lifeboats etc ?
Also any information on 1970's Chevertons would be of great interest.
Thank you for reading.

 

I am sorry that I cannot help you with your specific problem. However, I will say that it is very unlikely that your vessel was registered with class. It was only recently that class societies started producing rules and registering naval vessels. Navy vessels aren't insured in the normal way and are not subject to the normal laws and regulations that apply to merchant vessels. Therefore, they were not normally built to a specific set of class rules or registered with class.

If you need to get the vessel registered commercially you will most likely need to have a tonnage measurement performed and a regulatory compliance survey done on it. This will be to compare it to applicable regulations. Does it have enough life jackets for it's intended use. Does it have appropriate lighting systems installed. Etc. Usually there are provisions for vessels of a certain age. Some things will be required, some won't. You may also need to have a new stability book produced. This will mean having an inclining experiment performed and calculations of intact and perhaps damaged stability in different loading conditions. Even if the vessel was built to class rules these things will probably still need to be done as these are handled by the flag state and are not a concern of class.

You should check with MCA. They should have information about any previous registration of your vessel. This information is free and easily accessible on the net here in Canada but I think MCA might charge you guys for yours.
http://www.dft.gov.uk/mca/

 

Thank you for your advice.
I have spoken to the local marine survey office and they have advised me to contact a
structural engineer if I fail to find original paperwork, drawings etc.
A structural survey will cost 3000 euro to check hull lay-up, take measurements and
produce drawings.
I then need to go to the MSO with those and they will do the survey of ( Add ons ), stabability tests etc and will grant the licence if its all up to spec.
The structural survey is avoidable if I can get suitable information for the MSO saving me
money.
The registry would be good if it existed as that may satisfy them and would be much easier to trace than original plans.

 

Years ago I had an MoD vessel in my charge when I ran a weapons range off the West coast of Scotland, a Fairey Marine built Tracker, 62 ft fast patrol boat. I can say for sure that none of the RN "Small Vessels" were registered but they were surveyed every year and generally maintained to a high standard. There should be survey records available from the Small Vessels people at the MoD at Bath that used to have responsibility for all RN boats under around 120 ft LOA, if they are still around.

My guess is that you will have to pay for a survey, if you don't have any of the records for the boat. If you know the area in which the boat was normally based, then you might want to try calling around the yards to try and find out if any of them have records (assuming that the MoD at Bath can't help). For example, our Tracker was always looked after at a yard in Helensburgh, and I'm reasonably sure they'd still have many years worth of records, survey results, details of inclining tests, etc.

 

Thank you, Thats valuable information,
I will follow that up, I believe I may have sent a letter to Bath but I need to check what the
address was but at least I have a better idea how they operated.
I have also just found out the Hecla class ships also carried two of this model per ship
which explains how I have come across 7 of them already, There may also have been
two belonging to the HMS Hecate blown up by the IRA just down the road in Baltimore
in 1971.
I get the distinct feeling the boat may have been based in or around Southampton as her
mother ship was built by Brooke marine and thats also where she came up for disposal from Babcock international.