Lilliput Fleet

To guard our harbours and coastal convoys, Britain called up the Lilliput Fleet, a tiny fighting force of trawlers and drifters hastily converted into warships to face the might of Nazi technology, the Luftwaffe, mines and E-boats. The fishing fleet became the Royal Naval Patrol Service - a vital arm in the war at sea.

Their resources were few but their courage boundless. The little ships tackled any task, sweeping safe channels for merchantmen, dealing with each and every mine, hunting U-boats, participating in all landings from Madagascar to Normandy.

The ex-fishermen were joined by amateur yachtsmen and unabashed landlubbers. United by their dauntless determination, they welded themselves into a force to be reckoned with.

A. Cecil Hampshire, at the time a naval officer at the Admiralty, was intimately connected with the formation of the Patrol Service, and from his own experiences and the official records he has written a unique history of these little ships.

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