HISTORY
17 November 1918. With World War One at last coming to an end on the 11 November 1918, HMD Volume, which was being built for the Admiralty, was cancelled.
1919. HMD Volume was completed for commercial use and renamed GO AHEAD.
21st December 1929. The Go Ahead was in a collision with the Half Moon (LT 214) at Ijmuiden, Holland.
12th June 1930. The Go Ahead’s engine failed in Rathlin Sound, Northern Ireland and she was towed by Girl Gladys (LT 1174) to Killybegs in Southern Ireland.
27th November 1930. The Go Ahead sustained damage to her stem at Great Yarmouth.
30th November 1932. The Go Ahead sustained damaged in a gale off Lowestoft.
5th December 1934. The Go Ahead sustained damaged which included a broken propeller when she collided with a submerged obstacle at the entrance to Lowestoft harbour.
December 1934. Sadly, a crew member, Jack Martin, the 17-year-old cook, jumped overboard and was drowned.
23rd November 1939. The Go Ahead was requisitioned by the Admiralty and converted to a Minesweeper.
June 1940. ROYAL NAVY SHIPS, Nore Command, Sheerness, Wildfire III, Queenborough.
Minesweeping drifters - BOY ALLEN (Sk E H Crowe RNR), DEVON COUNTY (Sk S. S. Wilson RNR), FORERUNNER (Sk S F Wilson RNR), GO AHEAD (Sk W N Hurn RNR), PLUMER (Sk L George RNR) repairing, WELCOME HOME (Sk W F Wilson RNR), all at Sheerness.
15th September 1940, Nore Command Sheerness, Wildfire III, Queenborough.
M/S Drifters: Boy Alan, Girl Nancy, Forerunner, Plumer, Renascent, Lichen, (Vernal, being repaired, date uncertain), Welcome Home and Go Ahead.
18th November 1940. The Go Ahead was lost in collision in the River Medway off Queenborough.
To find out more of the Go Ahead’s movements go to DRIFTERS AND TRAWLERS.
OFFICER ON NAVY LIST Dec 39
Not on List.
OFFICER ON NAVY LIST July 40
Skipper R.N.R., W. N Hurn, 26 Nov 39
Temp Skipper R.N.R., H, Lee, 17 Dec 39
Temp Skipper R.N.R., G. E. Utting, 22 May 40.
OFFICER ON NAVY LIST June 41
Not on List.
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Type of Vessel: Carvel built, Wooden Dandy, 2 masted, Steam Drifter, converted to a Minesweepers.
Fishing Number: LT 534
Other Names: Volume
Year Constructed: 1919.
Built by: Colby Bros. Ltd.
Built at: Oulton Broad, Lowestoft.
Owner: 1919, East Anglian Red Star Fishing Co Ltd. 1926, Jack Breach Ltd.,
Engine: T 3Cy. Triple Expansion engine, 44.18 HP, William Burrell of Great Yarmouth.
Speed: 9.5 knots.
Gross Tons: 100 tons’ gross. 43 tons’ net.
Length: 89.9 feet.
Beam: 20 feet.
Depth: 10 feet.
Armament:
Fate: Collided with another vessel and sunk.
The Go Ahead, LT 534, when she was a fishing Drifter.
Watch these short minesweeping videos.
Minesweepers: https://youtu.be/aTsYiZFzv5M
A Bad Day in December 1940: https://youtu.be/Lw2pW31qH4s
GO AHEAD.
Minesweeping Drifter
Wildfire III, Queenborough.
Mines, bombs and torpedoes weren’t the only hazards for a minesweeper’s crew. Crowded anchorages, barely marked and wreck strewn waterways, tide, currents, wind and weather were also the enemy. In the blackness of the night, with large congregations of vessels sailing very close together in convoys, collisions were inevitable. A ship which sank in a collision was every bit a victim as one which was lost when detonating an enemy mine.
The Go Ahead was lost when she collided with another vessel in Queenborough Harbour only yards from the shore.