HERITAGE

Launched in 1941 as part of the Royal Navy Coastal Forces out of Dover, 219 went on to make many attacks on enemy shipping in the English Channel, first sustaining damage on 11 September 1941. On 12 February 1942, she was one of five MTBs that attacked the German battlecruisers Scharnhorst, Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen as they performed a ‘Channel Dash’ through the English Channel protected by destroyers, E-Boats and the Luftwaffe. She sank the Seeadler on 13 May 1942 and continued to attack enemy shipping until she was finally retired on 19 December 1943.

MTB-219 is the only surviving vessel of her class and still bears the signs of war damage from her many sorties. She was also instrumental in the rescue of a number of downed Fairey Swordfish crews during WW2.

Since retirement, MTB-219 has had a colourful life in a number of roles including use by the Sea Scouts, as a film set, and finally more recently as a houseboat in Chelsea before being acquired for restoration, which is a process Kraken Heritage CIC will undertake through to completion.