Warrior

WARRIOR was built in 1912 by Camper & Nicholsons Ltd, Gosport as a naval pinnace.  Her own early records, including her involvement in the evacuation of Dunkirk in 1940, were destroyed when an incendiary bomb struck her while she lay, still under naval command, on the river Thames at Greenwich.  At that time WARRIOR served as a coastal defence vessel, and it is likely that she served in this capacity during the First World War. She was large for a pinnace, being 65 ft long with a beam of 15ft, and was comparable in size to a coastal motor boat

In the Second World War she was used by Commander C.A. Lund to instruct naval officers in navigation and seamanship at H.M.S. KING ALFRED in 1942.

In earlier days she had a fine figurehead of an Indian warrior which was maintained faithfully in its original colours even when WARRIOR was painted in battleship grey.  Sadly, she lost this figurehead during her restoration in the 1960s.