HMS Speedy (P296)

HMS Speedy at Portsmouth, 1982
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Speedy (P296)
Operator:	Royal Navy
Ordered:	29 June 1978
Builder:	Boeing, Seattle Shipped to the UK and fitted out by Vosper Thorneycroft.
Laid down:	1978
Launched:	9 July 1979
Sponsored by:	Mrs Margaret Jay, at the time wife of Peter Jay, UK Ambassador to the United States
Completed:	1980+
Commissioned:	1980
Out of service:	For disposal in December 1982
Homeport:	HMNB Portsmouth, Hampshire
Fate:	Sold into mercantile service in 1986.
Notes:	Pennant number: P296
General characteristics
Displacement:	117 long tons (119 t)
Length:	Hull-borne: 90 feet (27 m) Foils retracted: 101 feet (31 m) Foil-borne: 90 feet (27 m)
Beam:	Hull-borne: 30 feet (9.1 m) Foils retracted: 30 feet (9.1 m) Foil-borne: 30 feet (9.1 m)
Draught:	Hull-borne: 17 feet (5.2 m) Foils retracted: 7 feet (2.1 m) Foil-borne: 8 feet (2.4 m)
Propulsion:	Hull-borne: 2 x Detroit GM diesel engines, producing 1,100 brake horsepower (820 kW) Foil-borne: 2 x Allison gas turbines, producing 7,560 horsepower (5,640 kW)
Speed:	Hull-borne: 5 knots (9.3 km/h; 5.8 mph)-15 knots (28 km/h; 17 mph) Foil-borne: 40 knots (74 km/h; 46 mph)
Range:	Hull-borne: 3,500 nautical miles (6,500 km; 4,000 mi) Foil-borne: 560 nautical miles (1,040 km; 640 mi)
Endurance:	23 long tons (23 t) of fuel
Complement:	18
Armament:	Designed for 2 × 7.62mm GPMGs on single mountings. Never fitted.

HMS Speedy (P296) was a Boeing Jetfoil, latterly a mine countermeasure vessel, of the British Royal Navy, based on the civilian Boeing 929 design. She was procured in 1979, as the first of a planned class of twelve, to provide the Royal Navy with practical experience in the operation of a hydrofoil, to ascertain technical and performance characteristics, and to oversee the capability of such a craft in the Fishery Protection Squadron and North Sea Squadron. She was assigned to these squadrons in September 1981. In 1982, she was used in minesweeping and minelaying trials at Portsmouth, but these were unsuccessful and she was sold into mercantile service in 1986.