Belgian ship A4 Patrol vessel " A4 " ( ) was a small operated by Belgium during the Second World War . Originally built for the British Royal Navy , as HMS " John Ebbs " , the ship is notable for its role in evacuating Belgian gold reserves to England during the Battle of Belgium in May 1940 . After the Belgian surrender , the vessel and its crew interned themselves in neutral Spain . In 1946 , the vessel and its crew were released and the ship was scrapped soon afterwards . Background . " Pilote 4 " ( later renamed " Patrouilleur A4 " ) was purchased by the Belgian " Corps de Marine " in 1920 , having previously served in the British Royal Navy during the First World War as HMS " John Ebbs " ( FY3566 ) . A Mersey - class naval trawler , the vessel had been built by Cochranes in Selby , North Yorkshire , and launched on 2 October 1917 . Displacing , the vessel was long , and had a draught of . Fitted with engines that were capable of producing , it could travel at between 9 and 10 knots . With a complement of 27 , the Belgians armed the ship with two Maxim machine guns on the bridge and a 47mm gun at the stern . In 1939 , " A4 " was waiting to be scrapped , but the deteriorating international situation caused by German expansionism led to its reactivation by the Ministry of Defence . Because of Belgium ' s neutral status in the early stages of the Second World War , " A4 " had large Belgian tricolours painted on each side of its hull , as well as the word " BELGIË " ( Dutch for " Belgium " ) in white , to prevent it being mistaken for a belligerent ship . After Belgium was invaded by German forces on 10 May 1940 , it was not repainted . Evacuation of Belgian gold . During the interwar period , Belgium had created a gold - based currency , called the Belga , which ran parallel to the Belgian franc . The Belga was intended for international trading and meant that the National Bank of Belgium had amassed considerable gold reserves , amounting to some 600 tonnes . During the escalating international tensions in the 1930s , the Belgian government began moving large amounts of gold to the United States , Great Britain and Canada , though it was forced to retain gold in the country to maintain the Belga ' s value . By the time the Germans invaded Belgium , there were still 40 tonnes of gold left in the country , held at the bank ' s offices in the port of Ostende . The only ship available in the area was " A4 " , commanded by Lieutenant Van Vaerenbergh . On 19 May 1940 , the vessel was loaded with the gold and , avoiding Dunkirk which was being bombed by the " Luftwaffe " , headed for the British coast , accompanied by the ship " P16 " which was carrying refugees . After being transferred from port to port because of concerns for the safety of the cargo during unloading , the gold was landed at Plymouth on 26 May , two days before the Belgian surrender . The gold was finally deposited at the Bank of England . " A4 " also carried Hubert Ansiaux , the civil servant charged with overseeing the evacuation of the gold to England and the future Governor of the National Bank . The fact that so much Belgian gold had been rescued before the German occupation allowed the Belgian government in exile to self - finance , unlike most other governments in exile , which had to rely on British financial support . Aftermath . Since Belgium had officially surrendered on 28 May and no official Belgian government yet existed in England , the crew of " A4 " took their ship to Bilbao in neutral Spain to avoid having to return to Belgium and become German prisoners of war . They arrived in Spain on 26 June and spent the rest of the war interned . Control of the ship was returned to Belgium in 1946 and it was scrapped in 1948 . For his role in the evacuation of the gold , Lieutenant Van Vaerenbergh was awarded the Order of Leopold II .