TORQUIL (ex ‘Oxo’) was built in 1942 in Dartmouth under contract A465243/42. Her hull number was 1066 and RAF designation ASR 1310.
She was transferred to the Admiralty for disposal 24/12/46 at 62 MU Dumbarton.
After the war, she was sold to the Rover Corporation who converted her to a ‘Gentleman’s Yacht’ and used her as a floating test bed during the development of the gas turbine. Later she was fitted with a diesel version of the Rolls Royce Meteor, the Rover Meteorite. The boat is currently fitted with these MK101 and 101A engines, along with the original pre-print manuals.
ASR1310 was first registered as Torquil on July 27th 1948.
The hull frames and planking is largely original, during the conversion in the late ’40s an outer cockpit and companionways were added.
There’s a video available on British Pathe of its test runs with the first gas turbines that can be found here: http://www.britishpathe.com/video/rover-gas-turbine-launch/query/launchings
ASR 1310 