HMS Menestheus

MV Menestheus was a Blue Funnel Liner launched in 1929. She was requisitioned by the Royal Navy for conversion to the auxiliary minelayer HMS Menestheus. She joined the 1st Minelaying Squadron based at Kyle of Lochalsh (port ZA) laying mines for the World War II Northern Barrage.

HMS Menestheus, departing Vancouver, Canada, September 1945


History
United Kingdom
NameHMS Menestheus
Launched6 August 1929[1]
Commissioned1940[2]
IdentificationPennant number: M93[2]
Fatereturned to Blue Funnel Line, 1946[2]
General characteristics
Class and typeAuxiliary minelayer
Tonnage7,494 GRT[1]
Speed16 knots (30 km/h; 18 mph)[1]
Armament

When minelaying was completed in October 1943, she was retained for conversion to an amenities ship as part of a mobile naval base for British Pacific Fleet warships. She underwent further conversion at Vancouver in 1944 including installation of a movie theater and canteen staffed by mercantile crews of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary service.[3] The ship had been painted grey for service in the North Atlantic, but was repainted white for service in the western Pacific.[4] Conversion included a brewery to make beer for shipboard consumption. A technical documentary illustrating the installation of the brewing plant is held by the Imperial War Museum and featured Head Brewer Lieutenant Commander George Brown RNVR. English Mild Ale was sold at 9d per pint on 'the world's only floating brewery' in the ship's Davy Jones bar.[5] When hostilities with Japan ended, she was returned to Blue Funnel Line in 1946.[1]

Notes
  1. Mason, Geoffrey B. "HMS Agamemnon – mercantile conversion, Auxiliary Minelayer". Service Histories of Royal Navy Warships in World War 2. edited by Gordon Smith. naval-history.net. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  2. Lenton & Colledge, pp.306 & 308
  3. Lenton & Colledge, pp.333 & 355
  4. "Royal Navy Amenity Ship MV Menestheus – The Floating Brewery". Colonial Film. Retrieved 18 March 2014.
  5. "ROYAL NAVY AMENITY SHIP MV MENESTHEUS - THE FLOATING BREWERY [Main Title]". Imperial War Museums. Retrieved 10 May 2022.

References
  • Lenton, H.T.; Colledge, J.J. (1968). British and Dominion Warships of World War II. Garden City, New York: Doubleday and Company.
  • Rohwer, Jürgen (2005). Chronology of the War at Sea 1939–1945: The Naval History of World War Two (Third Revised ed.). Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 1-59114-119-2.
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