Coastal Forces of World War II

Coastal Forces was a division of the Royal Navy established during World War II. It consisted of small coastal defence craft which the Navy designated with names such as: Motor Launch, High Speed Launch, air-sea rescue, Motor Gun Boat and Motor Torpedo Boat. It did not include minesweepers, trawlers or landing craft. Other Navies operated equivalent boats, but classified and named them somewhat differently.

This article attempts to pull together, for comparative purposes, some statistics concerning the coastal forces of different navies. It starts with the above British definition of "Coastal Forces" and attempts to identify the equivalent boats in other navies.

Post war
Post war there seemed to be no need for small coastal force vessels. They were generally withdrawn and their functions taken over by larger corvettes, frigates, and destroyers. A few remained in service with Third World navies. The RN's last boats built in any number were the Dark-class fast patrol boats of the mid-1950s; Coastal Forces was reduced in 1957 to a few vessels.

In time, the need for smaller vessels re-asserted itself, as in this experience of the Royal Australian Navy:

"The motor launches quickly passed out of service after the war and coastal patrol duties once more devolved upon larger RAN ships. From the early 1960s the Ton class minesweepers took on significant patrol responsibilities, particularly during the Indonesian Confrontation from 1962-1966. This experience led directly to the decision to reintroduce patrol boats to the RAN inventory, as the minesweepers were expensive to maintain and their engines were not designed to loiter on patrol."

Coastal boats reappeared in navies around the world now generally adapted to the need to "patrol" and designated as "patrol boats".

Surviving craft
Following is a list of notable surviving coastal craft from World War II.