PS Medway Queen
PS Medway Queen, Gillingham Pier 2016 | |
| History | |
|---|---|
| United Kingdom | |
| Name | Medway Queen |
| Owner |
|
| Port of registry | Rochester |
| Builder | Ailsa Shipbuilding Company, Troon, Scotland |
| Yard number | PS 388 |
| Launched | Wednesday 23 April 1924 |
| In service | 1924 |
| Out of service | 1964 |
| Identification | |
| Nickname(s) | Heroine of Dunkirk |
| Status | Under restoration as a museum ship |
| Notes | Sea trials 1924 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class & type | Paddle steamer |
| Tonnage | 316 GRT |
| Displacement | 316 tonnes. |
| Length | 179 ft 9 in (54.79 m) |
| Beam |
|
| Draught | 7 ft 8 in (2.34 m) |
| Installed power | 76 hp (57 kW) Scotch type boiler 11 feet long, fitted with triple furnaces feeding Ailsa built compound diagonal steam engine. Coal fired when built, converted to oil fired by Wallsend Engineering in 1938, built by Ailsa |
| Propulsion | Paddles |
| Speed |
|
| Armament | 1 × 12-pounder gun, 2 × machine guns (HMS Medway Queen) |
The PS Medway Queen is a paddle driven steamship, the only mobile estuary paddle steamer left in the United Kingdom. She was one of the "little Ships of Dunkirk", making a record seven trips and rescuing 7,000 men in the evacuation of Dunkirk.
She was the subject of a £1.8 million National Lottery Heritage Memorial Fund grant to restore her hull. By 2014, her hull had been reconstructed and she is berthed at Gillingham Pier on the River Medway as of 2022. In 2024, she celebrated her centenary.