HMS Gifford

HMS Gifford was one of 23 boats of the Ford-class of patrol boats built for the Royal Navy in the 1950s.

The NNS Bonny at the Nigerian War Museum
History
United Kingdom
Name: HMS Gifford (P3111)
Operator:  Royal Navy
Builder: Scarr
Launched: 30 June 1954
Commissioned: 30 June 1954
Fate: Sold in 1968 to Nigeria
Nigeria
Name: NNS Bonny
Operator: Nigerian Navy
Acquired: 1968
Decommissioned: 1983
Status: Museum ship
General characteristics
Class and type: Ford class seaward defence boat
Displacement:
  • 120 tons standard
  • 160 tons full load
Length: 117 ft 3 in (35.74 m)
Beam: 20 ft (6.1 m)
Draught: 6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Propulsion:
  • 1 × Foden diesel (Centre shaft)
  • 2 × Paxman 12YHAX 550hp Diesels (Outer shafts)
Speed: 20 knots
Armament:

Their names were all chosen from villages ending in -ford. This boat was named after Gifford.[1] She was launched on 30 June 1954 and sold to Nigeria in 1968. Renamed NNS Bonny,[2] she fought in the Nigerian Civil War against Biafra. She was decommissioned in 1983.[2]

Current state

NNS Bonny is preserved in the Nigerian War Museum at Umuahia as a museum exhibit.[3]

References
  1. There are several places in UK whose name contains or consists of Gifford. It is unclear which one the namegivers had in mind.
  2. Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. p. 160. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
  3. "Table of contents". The National War Museum Umuahia (PDF). DARC, Carolina Academic Press. p. vi. Retrieved 10 April 2018.


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