Our Glorious Mystery Ships

Q Ship ‘Suffolk Coast’, which trapped and sank many U-boats, arrives in the Thames for display in St. Katherine’s Dock.

In August 1918 the Collier Suffolk Coast was requisitioned by the Admiralty & became HMS Suffolk Coast; being used as a Q-ship & collier for the rest of the First World War. Developed as a decoy, a Q-ship was a civilian ship disguised as a tramp steamer or other lone vessel, but actually heavily armed to lure U-boats within firing range. After the war she was moored at St Katherine's Dock in London and open to the public during late 1918 & early 1919. She returned to her peacetime duties as a cargo vessel in July 1919. As the ship is moored, crew laugh and joke on deck as Lieutenant Harold Auten V.C, Commander of the Q-Boat Suffolk Coast, can be seen disguised as skipper of a collier as he surveys his ship.