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A BRIEF HISTORY OF LIEUT. HORACE G. STONE, RNVR The M.L.'s were wood-hulled and powered by two 440 hp gasoline engines enabling a top speed of 19 knots. Armament was a 13 pounder gun (soon replaced with a 3 pounder) forward and stern-mounted two depth charges. The M .L .'s, located o ff Southampton, would have covered wide sections of the English Channel as they had a range of up to 500, to 1,000 miles depending upon the speed and hence fuel consumption. The patrol areas could extend from the entrance to the Channel off Land 's End, Cornwall, to past D over-Calais as far east the North Sea. There are many stories of adventures and listings of these small boats accomplishments iii,iv,v The most famous of these and the finest hour for M.L 's came when 62 motor launches accompanied the block ships under Admiral Sir Roger Keyes' famous Zeebrugge and Ostend raids.3, 4 * 3 4 * 3 4 vessels could not be sent directly to England but were shipped to Canada for final assembly by Canadian Vickers 2; they were sometimes referred to "Canadian motor launches". 3 The Zeebrugge and Ostend raids. In this action of April, 1918, several obsolete cruisers attempted to block, by scuttling, the canal entrances at the two Belgian ports that served as major outlets for German subs and destroyers. The M.L.s were responsible for diverting enemy attention and most important to remove the skeleton-crews from the scuttled cruisers. The commando-style raids were a tremendous morale booster in England and resulted in the award of eight Victoria Crosses. 4 Additional historical records of life aboard M.L.'s can be found in the memoir; "The Motor Launch Patrol", by Gordon Maxwell, Lieut., RNVR. The author recounts his life in the Motor Launch Patrol during the First World War (commanding ML 314). He includes numerous humorous and horrifying anecdotes, provides insights into the details of life aboard these small vessels. The book provides a vivid portrait o f the life of an RNVR officer during the Great War. There are additional accounts of; The "Movies" - The Ship and Men o f the Royal Navy Motor Launch Patrol 1914 - 1919. Note that the term "Movies" referred to the motor launches Prepared by Carl Hunter February, 2019 Pa ge