MGB 614 later MTB 614 the First Permanent Clubhouse for the Bosham Sailing Club
Published 16:37 on 30 Apr 2026
MGB 614 (later MTB 614) the First Permanent Clubhouse for the Bosham Sailing Club
MGB 614 was ordered on 27th April 1941 from Woodnutt & Co at St Helens on the Isle of Wight and commissioned on 6th August 1942. She was a Fairmile Class D motor gunboat, 115-ft long and quite heavily armed; this class were popularly known as 'Dogboats'. She was built of mahogany and plywood for a crew of 30, three officers and 27-ratings, and was powered by four supercharged Packard engines totalling 5,000-BHP giving her a top speed of nearly 30-knots.
Her first Commanding Officer [CO] was Lieutenant Robert Henry Newman RNVR and he stayed in command until December 1944. In late 1943 she was converted to a motor torpedo boat, MTB 614, capable of carrying 18" or 21" torpedos, although she did not always ship them as she was already heavily armed as a gunboat, which was sometime more effective for surface actions. These guns were a 6-pounder (57-mm) automatic loader in the bow; twin 20-mm Oerlikon cannons and multiple 0.303 machine guns amidships and another 6-pounder or more 20-mm cannons at the stern. Newman was succeeded by Lieutenant J M Ford RNVR who remained CO until she was decommissioned.
MGB/MTB 614 served in the Coastal Forces 51st Flotilla operating out of Newhaven and was involved in a number of heavy surface actions. Engaging with German E-boats off the Isle of Wight in May 1943 when she suffered no casualties in that action although her aft crew's mess was set on fire and she was significantly damaged. She engaged a number of German craft including R-Boats [heavily armed minesweepers] off Dieppe on the night of 28th/29th March 1944. With her fellow flotilla members she inflicted significant losses on the enemy but suffered the loss of two crew members, Chief Motor Mechanic Harry Shaw and Seaman Edmund Fuller. Her CO and crew members were awarded DSC and DSM medals for these actions as was the commander of the 51st flotilla, Lieutenant Commander Ian Duff Lyle RNVR, who led the same tactical group in MTB 611. In June 1944 MTB 614 operated off the Normandy coast during the lead up to and during the D Day operations and the subsequent months, keeping E-boats and other German warships away from the landing beaches. MTB 614 was decommissioned in mid 1945 and went into reserve until she was sold in 1947.
The BSC, whose membership then was 250, purchased her in 1948. She was converted into the first permanent clubhouse with sleeping accommodation for staff and members, galley and dining area and served very satisfactorily in that capacity until 1954 by which time the membership had outgrown her to such an extent that larger premises were needed. The Earl of Iveagh, a keen sailing member of the Club and Admiral of Bosham, offered the disused C18th Bosham watermill for conversion into a permanent clubhouse and MTB 614 was subsequently sold to a London Sea Scout troop. It is not known when she was scrapped.
Last updated 16:47 on 30 April 2026
