HMS TURMOIL

(photo credit unknown shown here with kind permission Rfaaplymouth)

Once a ship had been built and launched she then had to be out-fitted, and then complete sea trials
before being handed over to her new owners, in the case of a ship for the Royal Navy this meant she also had to be commissioned as fit for purpose, once commissioned she was then considered ready for action and would take her place in the fleet.

 His Majesty's Rescue Tug TURMOIL was the seventh of the "Bustler Class" tug to be built and launched from the Leith Shipyards of Henry Robb as Ship No 337. 

At the end of the war she was chartered out by the navy and from 1946 to 1957 she was under charter to Chartered Overseas Towage & Salvage Co Ltd, London as Turmoil

She was then brought back to serve as RFA TURMOIL

The rescue tug TURMOIL was involved in many adventures and most of them happened after the war had ended, including the strange disappearance of a battleship lost at sea-6 November 1951 She sailed from her home port of Falmouth to assist her sister BUSTLER and aircraft from Gibraltar, the U.S.Navy and Portugal in the search for the old Brazilian battleship SAO PAULO which had broken adrift from its tow during a gale with a crew of eight aboard. The old battleship which was on her way to be broken up for scrap was never seen again and many theories have been put forward as to the reason for her loss, even some as far fetched as being taken by aliens, but in all likelihood she was just in the wrong place and too far from land during this very violent storm.

At the start of the year of 1952 she was involved in the attempt to rescue the Tramp Steamer "Flying Enterprise" an event that at the time was daily news to the people of Britain with pressmen on every available ship trying to cover the story.

TURMOIL standing off the Flying Enterprise

(photo credit unknown)

For more on the story visit "Flying Enterprise"

For news film of the rescue attempt by TURMOIL and the end of the Flying Enterprise. 

Two years later she was involved in another huge tow and feat of skilful seamanship when on the 30th of November 1954 she towed the stern portion of the World Concord to the Clyde after the Liberian Tanker broke in two. Originally she was to be towed to Liverpool but that port refused her entry. The tanker was eventually put back together again and continued to sail the seven seas.

TURMOIL was given a major refit at the Adrossan dockyard in 1961 but was then laid up before being sold to Greek shipping interests at Piraeus  in 1965

TURMOIL under her new names was to work for Greek towage companies for another twenty or so years before she was sold for scrap.

 We try here to give as full an account of her history as time and research permits, if you know of missing info
or you have any photographs of her, then please get in touch and we shall update her story as we go along.

 TURMOIL as the Greek tug MATSAS

(photo credit unknown)