HMS Port Napier

Port Napier's wreck in Loch Alsh in 2010
History
United Kingdom
NamePort Napier
NamesakeNapier Port
OwnerPort Line
OperatorRoyal Navy
Port of registryLondon
BuilderSwan, Hunter & Wigham Richardson, Wallsend
Yard number1569
Launched23 April 1940
CompletedJune 1940
Commissioned12 June 1940
Identification
FateFire & explosion, November 1940
General characteristics
TypeAuxiliary minelayer
Tonnage9,847 GRT, 5,906 NRT
Length503.3 ft (153.4 m)
Beam68.2 ft (20.8 m)
Depth29.8 ft (9.1 m)
Installed power7,500 bhp
Propulsion
Speed16 knots (30 km/h)
Sensors &
processing systems
Armament
Notessister ships: Port Jackson, Port Phillip, Port Victor

HMS Port Napier was a British motor ship that was designed and laid down as a civilian cargo ship but completed in 1940 as an auxiliary minelayer for the Royal Navy. An engine room fire caused an explosion that destroyed her in November 1940. Her remains in Loch Alsh in Scotland are now a recreational wreck diving site.

She was the third of four ships called Port Napier to be owned by Port Line. She was named after Napier Port on the North Island of New Zealand.