An examination vessel is a vessel used to inspect ships and boats entering a port during wartime.

An examination vessel would typically be responsible for examining and verifying all merchant ships and small craft entering or departing a port

Port

A port is a location on a coast or shore containing one or more harbors where ships can dock and transfer people or cargo to or from land....

. They would normally be equipped with one or more machine gun

Machine gun

A machine gun is a fully automatic mounted or portable firearm, usually designed to fire rounds in quick succession from an ammunition belt or large-capacity magazine, typically at a rate of several hundred rounds per minute....

s and in addition were often supported by one or more shore gun batteries

Artillery battery

In military organizations, an artillery battery is a unit of guns, mortars, rockets or missiles so grouped in order to facilitate better battlefield communication and command and control, as well as to provide dispersion for its constituent gunnery crews and their systems...

, sometimes called "examination batteries". Duties might include boarding ships, examining papers to establish identity and belligerent status

Belligerent

A belligerent is an individual, group, country or other entity which acts in a hostile manner, such as engaging in combat. Belligerent comes from Latin, literally meaning "to wage war"...

, and inspecting cargoes for legitimacy.

As an example of how an examination service might operate, here is an account of the procedure that operated in 1917 in Sydney Harbour

Port Jackson

Port Jackson, containing Sydney Harbour, is the natural harbour of Sydney, Australia. It is known for its beauty, and in particular, as the location of the Sydney Opera House and Sydney Harbour Bridge...

:

"At midnight on 7 August all traffic entering and leaving the harbour was placed under strict naval control with the inauguration of an examination service under Captain Pasco's port defense organisation, to guard against surprise attack by disguised armed merchant ship raiders. No incoming ship could approach beyond the line between Flat Point and Cranberry Head without first establishing its identity to a naval examination vessel. Because no steamer was available this had to be performed by motor launches. The examination personnel, if satisfied, would order the gate of the submarine net to be opened. Vessels wishing to leave port would have to notify the examination one day in advance and receive, confidentially, a time when the gate would be briefly opened. Vessels could not enter or leave during darkness or when the weather was thick. One of primary responsibilities of the coastal batteries at Cranberry Head and Fort Petrie was to be ready at all times to open fire, first with warning shots and then for effect, on instructions from the examination staff... [No vessels] could pass, in or out, without displaying certain prearranged signals, set from day to day by the naval authorities."

Vessels which served as examination vessels

Australia

• Adele (1906)
  Adele (1906)
  Adele was a steel screw steamer that was built in 1906 as a yacht. She was twice commissioned into the Royal Australian Navy , firstly as HMAS Franklin and later as HMAS Adele. She was wrecked at Port Kembla, New South Wales on 7 May 1943.-Design and construction:Adele was built in 1906 by...
  
  
• HMAS Kookaburra
  HMAS Kookaburra
  HMAS Kookaburra was a Net-class boom defence vessel of the Royal Australian Navy , which served during World War II.-Construction:...
  
  
• HMQS Otter
  HMQS Otter
  HMQS Otter was a patrol vessel that served with the Queensland Maritime Defence Force and Commonwealth Naval Forces. She was subsequently requisitioned by the Royal Australian Navy in both world wars....
  
  
• HMAS Southern Cross
  HMAS Southern Cross
  HMAS Southern Cross was a examination vessel, stores and troop carrier of the Royal Australian Navy during the Second World War. Built in 1933 for the Melanesian Mission of the Anglican Church, she was requisitioned by the RAN on 29 March 1941 and commissioned on 18 June 1941....
  
  

Canada

• HMCS Armentières
  HMCS Armentières
  HMCS Armentières was one of twelve Battle class naval trawlers used by the Royal Canadian Navy . Named after the Battle of Armentières, she was built by Canadian Vickers, at Montreal, and was commissioned on 5 June 1918. Along with , and , Armentières accompanied on a trip to the west coast via...
  
  
• HMCS Cougar (Z15)
  HMCS Cougar (Z15)
  HMCS Cougar was an armed yacht that served in the Royal Canadian Navy as a patrol vessel from 1940 to 1945.-Construction and early career:...
  
  
• HMCS Malaspina
  HMCS Malaspina
  HMCS Malaspina was a Canadian government fisheries patrol vessel pressed into service with the Royal Canadian Navy in 1917 and again in 1939 and which therefore saw service during the First World War and Second World War....
  
  

New Zealand

• Awanui
• Hauiti
• Ikatere
• Janie Seddon
• Lyttelton
• Stina
• Tuirangi
• Wairangi

South Africa

• HMSAS Clara
• HMSAS Stork
• HMSAS William Messina

United States

• Barnegat
  Barnegat (lightship)
  The Barnegat LV 79/WAL 506, is located in Camden, New Jersey. The lightship was built in 1904 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 29, 1979.-History:...
  
   (lightship)
• Frying Pan
  Frying Pan (lightship)
  Frying Pan is a lightvessel moored at Pier 66a in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It served at Frying Pan Shoals, off Cape Fear in North Carolina, for over 30 years.-Frying Pan Shoals Station:...
  
   (lightship)
• Lightship 85
• Lightship 112

See also

• Examination vessels of the Royal New Zealand Navy

External links

• HMAS Adele: Examination vessel