View source for HMS Boxer (F121)

{{short description|1942 landing ship}}
{{other ships|HMS Boxer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2015}}
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{{Infobox ship image
|Ship image= HMS Boxer.jpg
|Ship caption=HMS ''Boxer'' fitted out as a fighter direction ship
}}
{{Infobox ship career
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|Ship country= United Kingdom
|Ship flag={{shipboxflag|United Kingdom|naval}}
|Ship name=  HMS ''Boxer''
|Ship namesake=
|Ship ordered=6 March 1941
|Ship awarded=
|Ship builder=[[Harland & Wolff]]
|Ship yard number=1155{{sfn|McCluskie|2013|p=151}}
|Ship original cost=
|Ship laid down=
|Ship launched=12 December 1942
|Ship christened=
|Ship completed= 1 May 1943{{sfn|McCluskie|2013|p=151}}
|Ship acquired=
|Ship commissioned= 10 April 1943
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|Ship identification=[[Pennant number]]: F121
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|Ship fate= Scrapped 1958
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}}
{{Infobox ship characteristics
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|Header caption=
|Ship type=[[Landing Ship, Tank]] Mark I
|Ship tonnage=
|Ship displacement=3,620
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|Ship beam=
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|Ship draught=
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|Ship ramps=
|Ship propulsion=
|Ship speed=*18 knots laden to beaching draught
* 16.5 knots at deep
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|Ship capacity=13 Churchill infantry tanks, 27 vehicles, 193 men
|Ship troops=
|Ship complement=169
|Ship sensors=*[[SM radar|SM]] [[Ground-controlled interception|fire directional radar]]
* [[SK radar|SK-1]] [[Air search radar|air-search radar]]
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{{Infobox service record
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|operations=*[[Allied invasion of Italy]]
* [[Normandy landings]]
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|}

'''HMS ''Boxer''''' was built as a [[Landing Ship, Tank#LST Mk.1|Landing Ship, Tank]] [LST(1)] at [[Harland & Wolff]]. Launched in December 1942 and commissioned the following April, she saw service as part of the [[Allied invasion of Italy]].

==Design and development==
''Boxer'' was the next in development of the tank landing ship following the conversion of the [[Lake tanker|Maracaibo tankers]] into landing ships capable of carrying vehicles. The requirement was for a ship that could carry 13 [[Churchill tank]]s, 27 other vehicles and 193 men. As it was expected to have a high speed even when laden for the assault (about 18 knots) it could not have a shallow draught. This in turn meant that an extra long bow ramp had to be added. At {{cvt|140|ft}} this took up a lot of room inside the ship.

''Boxer'' was [[Keel laying|laid down]] at [[Harland & Wolff]]'s [[Belfast]] shipyard on 31 July 1941. She was [[Ceremonial ship launching|launched]] on 12 December 1942 and was completed on 1 August 1943.<ref name="jfs53p56">{{Harvnb|Blackman|1953|p=56}}</ref> ''Boxer'' had only two sister ships, as plans to build more in the United States led instead to the [[Landing Ship, Tank#LST Mk.2]] a simpler though slower design capable of similar capacity but with a much shallower draught.

==Service==

In 1944, she was refitted as a [[Radar picket|fighter direction ship]], for use during the [[Normandy landings]] to control fighter aircraft by [[ground-controlled interception]], then as an "action information organisation" tender (a [[radar]] training ship) in 1946. In 1953 she took part in the [[fleet review]] to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth II, was placed in reserve in 1956 and scrapped at [[Barrow-in-Furness]] in 1958.<ref>[http://ndassoc.net/history/index.php?pg=1&PHPSESSID=ae16621e7c0e695ac1ee5c6747969729 Navigating and Direction Officers Association]</ref><ref>Souvenir Programme, ''Coronation Review of the Fleet, Spithead, 15th June 1953'', HMSO, Gale and Polden</ref>

''Boxer'' carried the writer, musician and comedian [[Spike Milligan]] from North Africa to Italy, when he served with the [[7th County of London Brigade, Royal Field Artillery#56th Heavy Regiment|56th Heavy Regiment]] Royal Artillery.{{sfn|Milligan|1978|pp=1–288}}

==See also==
* {{HMS|Bruiser|F127|6}}
* {{HMS|Thruster|F131|6}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Bibliography==
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite book |editor-last=Blackman |editor-first=Raymond V. B. |title=Jane's Fighting Ships 1953–54 |year=1953 |publisher=McGraw-Hill Book Company |location=New York |oclc=473434104}}
* {{cite book|last=McCluskie |first=Tom |title=The Rise and Fall of Harland and Wolff |date=2013 |publisher=The History Press |location=Stroud |isbn=978-0-75-248861-5}}
* {{cite book |last=Milligan |first=Spike |year=1978 |title=Mussolini, His Part in My Downfall |editor-last=Hobbs |editor-first=J. |publisher=Harmondsworth: Penguin |isbn=0-14-005196-1}}
{{refend}}

==Further reading==
* {{cite book |last=Brown |first= David K. |title=Nelson to Vanguard: Warship Design and Development 1923–1945 |year=2012 |publisher=Seaforth Publishing |location=Barnsley |isbn=978-1-84832-149-6 }}
* {{Cite Colledge2006}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boxer}}
[[Category:Amphibious warfare vessels of the Royal Navy]]
[[Category:World War II naval ships of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:Ships built in Belfast]]
[[Category:1942 ships]]
[[Category:Ships built by Harland and Wolff]]