HMS Gifford

HMS Gifford was one of 23 boats of the Ford-class of patrol boats built for the Royal Navy in the 1950s.

The NNS Bonny at the Nigerian War Museum
History
United Kingdom
Name:	HMS Gifford (P3111)
Operator:	Royal Navy
Builder:	Scarr
Commissioned:	30 June 1954
Fate:	Sold in 1968 to Nigeria
Nigeria
Name:	NNS Bonny
Operator:	Nigerian Navy
Acquired:	1968
Decommissioned:	1983
Status:	Museum ship
General characteristics
Class and type:	Ford class seaward defence boat
Displacement:	120 tons standard 160 tons full load
Length:	117 ft 3 in (35.74 m)
Beam:	20 ft (6.1 m)
Draught:	6 ft 6 in (1.98 m)
Propulsion:	1 × Foden diesel (Centre shaft) 2 × Paxman 12YHAX 550hp Diesels (Outer shafts)
Speed:	20 knots
Armament:	1 × Bofors 40 mm gun 2 × Oerlikon 20 mm cannons

Their names were all chosen from villages ending in -ford. This boat was named after Gifford.[1] She was launched on 30 June 1954 and sold to Nigeria in 1968. Renamed NNS Bonny[2], she fought in the Nigerian Civil War against Biafra. She was decommissioned in 1983.[2]

Current state

NNS Bonny is preserved in the Nigerian War Museum at Umuahia as a museum exhibit.[3]

References

1. There are several places in UK whose name contains or consists of Gifford. It is unclear which one the namegivers had in mind.
2. Colledge, J. J.; Warlow, Ben (2006) [1969]. Ships of the Royal Navy: The Complete Record of all Fighting Ships of the Royal Navy (Rev. ed.). London: Chatham Publishing. p. 160. ISBN 978-1-86176-281-8.
3. "Table of contents". The National War Museum Umuahia (PDF). DARC, Carolina Academic Press. p. vi. Retrieved 10 April 2018.