Ocean boarding vessels (OBVs) were merchant ships taken over by the Royal Navy for the purpose of enforcing wartime blockades by intercepting and boarding foreign vessels.
Ships[]
Ship
Date launched/ completed
Date requisitioned/ commissioned
History
HMS Ariguani
1926
converted to "Catapult Armed Ship". Used for convoy escort
Former SS Hilary; restored as a merchantman 15 April 1942; recommissioned as an infantry landing and headquarters ship 1943; returned to civilian service after the war in 1945; scrapped 1959.
Bombed and sunk on 7 September 1940. Salvaged and converted to cargo ship Empire Explorer, never saw service as an ocean boarding vessel. Torpedoed and sunk in July 1942.
Bombed and sunk on 7 September 1940. Salvaged and converted to cargo ship Empire Chivalry, never saw service as an ocean boarding vessel. Sold postwar and renamed Planter. Scrapped 1958.
French ship MV Charles Plumier in 1938; seized by Royal Navy; returned to France 1945; sold to a Greek company and renamed MV Pleias 1964; scrapped 1968