Allied Warships
HMS Montclare (F 85)
Armed Merchant Cruiser
Photo courtesy of State Library of New South Wales
| Navy | The Royal Navy |
| Type | Armed Merchant Cruiser |
| Class | [No specific class] |
| Pennant | F 85 |
| Built by | John Brown Shipbuilding & Engineering Company Ltd. (Clydebank, Scotland) |
| Ordered | |
| Laid down | |
| Launched | 18 Dec 1921 |
| Commissioned | 15 Oct 1939 |
| End service | 2 Jun 1942 |
| History | On 28 August 1939 the passenger ship Montclare of the Canadian Pacific Steamships Ltd, Montreal was requisitioned by the Admiralty and converted to an armed merchant cruiser. Conversion was completed on 15 October 1939. Displacement: 16314 BRT Career:
On 2 June 1942 sold to the Admiralty and converted to a submarine depot ship for the 3rd Submarine flotilla. 1954 decommissioned and in January 1958 sold for scrap at Inverkeithing. |
Commands listed for HMS Montclare (F 85)
Please note that we're still working on this section.
| Commander | From | To | |
| 1 | Capt. (retired) Herbert Malcolm Spreckley, RN | 2 Sep 1939 | 25 Aug 1941 |
| 2 | Capt. (retired) Lawrence Hodson Bayley, RN | 25 Aug 1941 | 17 Apr 1942 |
| 3 | Cdr. (retired) William Richmond Fell, DSC, OBE, RN | 17 Apr 1942 | ca Jun 42 |
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Notable events involving Montclare include:
13 Jan 1941
Convoy BHX 103
This convoy departed Bermuda on 13 January 1941 and merged at sea with convoy HX 103 on 18 January 1941.
Convoy BHX 103 was made up of the following merchant vessels: Athelfoam (British (tanker), 6554 GRT, built 1931), Dolabella (British (tanker), 8142 GRT, built 1939), Empire Shearwater (British, 4970 GRT, built 1920), Mamura (Dutch (tanker), 8245 GRT, built 1932) and Mijdrecht (Dutch (tanker), 7493 GRT, built 1931).
The convoy was escorted by the armed merchant cruiser HMS Montclare (Capt.(Retd.) H.M. Spreckley, RN) which was detached when the convoy merged with convoy HX 103.