17/09/2022
On this day in 1982, 40 years ago, HMS Invincible returned to Portsmouth Harbour after her Falklands War deployment. Amongst the crowds welcoming her were Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
The Queen and Prince were on board the Royal Navy Home Command Commander-in-Chief's barge 'Green Parrot', a 45 ft medium speed picket boat. Although she was launched in 1956, the design originated in the Second World War to replace earlier 45 ft fast motor boats that equipped many capital ships.
The RN had accepted a lot of hard chine hull ship's boats just before the war. But, although fast, their flat bottoms meant their seakeeping in rough weather left a lot to be desired. The 45 ft diesel picket boat was designed to replace them. Using a traditional round bilge hull and powered by two Gardner diesel engines, the boat had much better sea keeping abilities and was luxurious enough to double as an admiral’s barge. These boats saw regular service with the fleet. There were some very minor changes to the design and they may have been reclassified as 45 ft motor picket boats. Post-war they became medium speed picket boats (MSPB).
Work started on boat number 5303 at Jack Powles boatyard in Wroxham in 1953. She was launched in 1956 and served as an admiral's barge for C-in-C Home Fleet at HMS Maidstone and HMS Tyne. She was transferred to C-in-C Portsmouth in 1960, which became C-in-C Home Command in 1969. In these roles she acquired a green hull (the colour reserved for C-in-C) and the name Green Parrot. She wasn't the first in Portsmouth – a steam barge for Admiral Sir Hedworth Meaux, C-in-C Portsmouth from 1912 to 1916, was also christened Green Parrot.
Green Parrot served as an admiral’s barge until she was gifted to Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust by the Admiral Superintendent in 1996. She joins their impressive collection in
BoatHouse 4 where she is currently out of the water for restoration.
📷Portsmouth Naval Base Property Trust, National Historic Ships and IWM A 7065
