Belgian ship A4

Belgian ship A4

Sister ship George Bligh
History
United Kingdom
Name	John Ebbs
Ordered	1916
Builder	Cochranes, Selby
Launched	2 October 1917
Out of service	1920
Fate	Sold to Belgium
Belgium
Name	Pilote 4 (1920–1939, 1946) Patrouilleur A4 (1939–1945)
Acquired	1920
Decommissioned	1946
Fate	Scrapped in Spain, 1948
General characteristics
Class and type	Mersey-class Trawler
Displacement	339 tonnes (334 long tons; 374 short tons)
Length	45 metres (148 ft)
Draught	4.5 metres (15 ft)
Installed power	600 horsepower (450 kW)
Speed	9 to 10 knots (17 to 19 km/h; 10 to 12 mph)
General characteristics Royal Navy
Armament	1 × 5.4 kg (12 lb) gun 1 × 89 mm (3.5 in) bomb thrower
General characteristics Belgian Navy
Complement	27
Armament	1 × 47 mm (1.9 in) gun 2 × Maxim machine guns

Patrol vessel A4 (French: Patrouilleur A4) was a small Mersey-class trawler 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. The success of the operation not only allowed the Belgian government in exile to fund its operations but deprived the German occupiers of an important asset to support their war effort. After the Belgian surrender, the vessel and its crew interned themselves in neutral Spain. Both crew and vessel were released in 1946 and A4 was scrapped soon afterwards.