HMS Misoa (F117)
| History | |
|---|---|
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| Name: | HMS Misoa |
| Builder: | Furness Shipbuilding Company, Haverton Hill-on-Tees |
| Launched: | 22 June 1937 |
| Acquired: | by requisition, December 1940 |
| Commissioned: | 11 August 1941 |
| Decommissioned: | March 1945 |
| Motto: | Veni, vidi, vici |
| General characteristics | |
| Type: | Landing Ship, Tank |
| Displacement: | 4,193 tons |
| Length: | 379.4 ft (115.6 m) |
| Beam: | 64.2 ft (19.6 m) |
| Draught: |
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| Ramps: | 100 ft (30 m) extending bow ramp |
| Capacity: | 18 × 30-ton tanks or 22 × 25-ton tanks or 33 heavy trucks |
| Troops: | 217 |
| Complement: | 98 |
| Armament: |
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HMS Misoa (F117) was a Maracaibo-class LST Mk.I tank landing ship of the British Royal Navy during World War II. A converted Lake Maracaibo oil tanker, she took part in the invasions of North Africa, Sicily, and Normandy.
Misoa was one of three shallow-draught oil tankers built by the Furness Shipbuilding Company of Haverton Hill-on-Tees in 1937 to operate in Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela. She was requisitioned by the Royal Navy in December 1940, along with her sister ships Tasajera and Bachaquero, for conversion to a tank landing ship. Her oil tanks were removed to form a tank deck, and two large hatches and two 50-ton derrick cranes fitted to lift vehicles from the tank deck to the upper deck. Her bows were cut off square and a heavy steel door fitted. A hinged extension, together with the door, provided a 100-foot (30 m) ramp to unload vehicles. Steel armour plate was fitted to the bridge and wheelhouse, and the ship was armed with a single 40 mm gun, six 20 mm anti-aircraft guns, three Lewis machine guns, and a smoke mortar. There was accommodation for up to 217 troops, and for a crew of 98. She could carry eighteen 30-ton tanks, or twenty-two 25-ton tanks, or 33 heavy trucks. After refitting was complete she was commissioned in August 1941.
Misoa left the Clyde in early August 1941 with large squadron of landing and troop ships, escorted by eight destroyers, and headed for Scapa Flow, where four more destroyers joined the convoy, which was intended to seize the Azores. When the operation was cancelled, the ships returned to the Clyde. In January 1942, Misoa was based at Freetown, Sierra Leone, on the South Atlantic Station.
The ship then took part on "Operation Torch" - the invasion of North Africa. At 04:00 on 8 November 1942 Misoa, along with Tasajera, and the troopships Durban Castle and Derbyshire, arrived off "Z Beach" at Arzew, Algeria. By 08:00 she had disembarked M3 Stuart tanks of the U.S. 1st Armored Division's "Combat Command B", despite coming under fire from nearby enemy battery. The American troops then moved inland to seize the airfields at La Senia and Tafaroui.
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