page_title: British Power Boat Company
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: British Power Boat Company / History
caption_attribution_description: The U.S. Navy torpedo boat PT-9 at Washington, D.C., 19 June 1940. PT-9 was the only British PT boat prototype ordered. The 70 ft boat was designed by Hubert Scott-Paine and built by the British Power Boat Company. It was sold to the Royal Navy in April 1941 and served as "MTB 258". Original description: "New 'Mosquito Boat' ready for action. Washington, D.C., June 19. The PT-9, first of the American Motor Torpedo Boats to be delivered to the U.S. Navy under the President's $15,000,000 experimental small craft program had a preview showing for the press today. The 'Mosquito Boat' and eight other ones will be based at the naval operating base, Norfolk, Va., where they will undergo service tests under various sea conditions to determine their capabilities and limitations. This is the same type of boat that the government is in the process of releasing to the British Navy. Chairman David L. Walsh of the Senate Naval Affairs Committee expressed indignation over the Navy's action in this respect in view of the fact that this government is trying to build up its own sea power."
context_page_description: The British Power Boat Company was a British manufacturer of motor boats, particularly racing boats and later military patrol boats.
context_section_description: The company was formed on 30 September 1927 when Hubert Scott-Paine bought and renamed the Hythe Shipyard with the intention of transforming it into one of the most modern mass production boat building yards in the country. Together with his chief designer, Fred Cooper, the company produced the 26-foot single step hydroplane racing boat Miss England I. Later after Fred Cooper had left, Hubert Scott-Paine designed Miss Britain III.
  From 1930 the British Power Boat Company supplied seaplane tenders to the Air Ministry, commencing with RAF200, a 37-footer. The trials of this and other boats was carried out by T. E. Shaw (T. E. Lawrence) on behalf of the Royal Air Force, and he and Scott-Paine worked together over the next few years. These tenders were powered by twin 100bhp Meadows petrol engines giving a maximum speed of 29 knots (some of the later ones were fitted with Perkins S6M diesels).
  The company marketed its own modified Napier Sea Lion engines under the name "Power" Marine Engines.
  On 3 August 1931 the factory burnt to the ground, but was rapidly rebuilt as the most modern and efficient boatyard in Britain. Motor Torpedo Boats with a hard chine were designed, built, and increasingly sold to the British Admiralty. Armoured target boats were also built for the RAF, proving very successful and cost-effective, together with tenders for Imperial Airways flying boats, and admiral's barges.
  In 1939, due to the difficulties in obtaining British engines, Scott-Paine took PT-9 to the US to enable Elco to mass-produce PT boats using Packard motors.
caption: PT-9 at Washington D.C., 1940
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