Name H.M.S. Elfin

HMS ELFIN was built by J. Samuel White & Co, Cowes, in 1933.  Her home port was the Navy's torpedo trials establishment HMS VERNON at Portland.  She was designed as a torpedo workshop ship but primarily served as a tender, maintaining the daily connection between the shore establishment and the submarine depot ship HMS TITANIA. 

In 1940, she was transferred to Blyth, Northumberland, where she became the depot ship for the 6th Submarine Flotilla.  The ship escorted Allied submarines to ensure they were easily identifiable by the Allied air force.  To provide extra protection in the event of an enemy attack, an Oerlikon anti-aircraft gun was mounted on the aft deck.  She was replaced by the drifter ROTHA in 1941 and transferred to Rosyth on the Clyde, being renamed HMS NETTLE on 20th August 1941.  From 1943 until the end of the war, she remained at the naval base in Rosyth, serving as a tender for the submarine depot ship HMS CYCLOPS. 

After the war, she returned to Portland, but the war years had taken their toll, and the Navy had the boiler and steam engines completely overhauled.  She continued to serve for another ten years as an auxiliary ship and torpedo recovery vessel.  In the 1950s, she was given a new role supporting the X-craft mini-submarine programme, alongside HMS STICKLEBACK under the leadership of Lt. Commander Todd.  In 1953, she sailed with guests as part of the Fleet Review to mark the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II.  The ship was also immortalized in a British Pathé film, when the Navy visited the manufacturer of the diesel engines for the submarines.  In 1955 HMS NETTLE assisted in the rescue operation of HMS SIDON, which sank with the loss of 13 men after an explosion on board. 

After thirteen years of service, the now redundant HMS NETTLE was sold to the shipbreaker Pounds in 1957.  While at Pounds' yard, she appeared in the 1958 film The Key, set during the Battle of the Atlantic.  Pounds then sold her on to the Amsterdam Dry Dock Company in the Netherlands.  In 1958, she was converted into a tanker cleaning vessel and renamed DROOGDOK 18.  Later, the name was changed twice more - to HOM 7 and finally TCA 1.  She remained in service with the Amsterdam Dry Dock Company until 1985, when she was the very last remaining industrial steamship in the Netherlands.  Following the bankruptcy of that company, the ship was laid up until acquired in 1995 by the Foundation for the Preservation of the Steamship, which was established in 1995 with the aim of restoring the steamship to operational condition, as close to the original situation as possible, and still owns and operates her today.  The ship's name was also changed back to HMS ELFIN in 1995.  

As a non-commercial organisation, the Foundation operates solely with a dedicated team of volunteers and the valued support of donors and sponsors.  Thanks to the selfless efforts of its enthusiastic volunteers, the steamship was saved from disposal, restored, and made her first steam voyage in 1998.  The boiler system was modernised in 2024, but the steam engines remain in their original state. HMS ELFIN is now based in the town of Koog aan de Zaan, north of Amsterdam, and acts as the Foundation's flagship vessel. 

Web text updated February 2025.