HMS Narvik

Built by ‘Vickers-Armstrong’, Barrow & launched on 29th July 1945 as LST 3044. Named HMS Narvik in 1947. She was flagship of the British Task Force for the Atomic Bomb tests in Monte Bello Islands in May 1956.

She became a ‘Submarine Support Ship’ at Chatham & then, in 1960, became a Depot Ship to the 108th Minesweeping Squadron in Malta.

In 1965 she moved to Faslane to become an accommodation ship as the new Clyde Naval Base was being built. She was berthed inside MAIDSTONE during 1966-68.

 Barry Stonham

Keith Huddy advised on 19 June 2025 a story of ship preservation by the Medway Maritime Trust at Chatham Dockyard that is worthy of an article in its own right.

Sometime during 1970's the former HMS Narvik was reduced to a pontoon i.e. engines removed and upperworks cut down to the tank deck, giving a flat surface  200 ft long by 50 ft wide.

Since March 2009 she has housed the paddle tug John Amos, itself an Historic Vessel undergoing extensive renovation. Amos was the last paddle tug built in Britain for civilian use on the river Tees, Clydeside in 1931.She has a fascinating, if not always distinguished, history. A Google search on John Amos Tug is rewarding.