Medway Dock AFD4 1912
Some additional information on AFD4
AFD4 - Capacity 33,000 tons. Built by Swan Hunter Wigham & Richardson 1912. The Medway dock.
Delivered to Sheerness that year and remained until 1915 when it was towed back to theTyne
It was moored at Jarrow Stake throughout WW 1.
On12 Sept '25 AFD4 was towed to Devonport by five tugs -Retort, Resolve, St. Kitts, St.Mellions and St. Clear.
HMS Ramilles was the first ship docked in AFD4 at Devonport.
Work on SMS Derfflinger
SMS Derfflinger was one of the Derfflinger Class German battle Cruisers (along with Lutzow and Hindenburg). Launched on June 1 1913.
Derfflinger fought at the Battle of Dogger bank and earlier at Jutland.
Derfflinger was scuttled at Scapa Flow on June 21st 1919 and lay in 45 metres of water until being raised in July 1939 by the London, Liverpool Salvage Co.
She was lying upside down and divers spent weeks cutting away superstructure to get her manageable and onto AFD4. Despite the divers doing as much as they could, the dock had to sink one and a half feet below the design specifications in order to load the ship.
Derfflinger was then anchored, still capsized, off the island of Risa.
AFD4 was brought back to the Clyde in September 1941, being placed under the control of the "Emergency Repair Organisation" , the voyage lasted 6 days. The Admiralty originally approached John Brown of Clydebank to oversee the management of the work in the dock, but due to pressure of new build work at their yard, they declined and the Fairfield Ship Building & Engineering Co of Govan took management responsibiliy, but drawing labour from other Clyde yards as required.
The dock was anchored close to the mouth of Gareloch between Roseneath Point and Helensburgh and as this was remote from the shipyards and docks on the south bank of the Clyde, two old paddle steamers the"Balmoral" and "Lorna Doon" were moored alongside and altered to meet messing and accommodation needs.
The first ship to dock was the new monitor HMS Roberts and over the period over 70 vessels were docked for repair. These included Aurania, Royal Sovereign and carriers Queen, Trumpeter, Begum, Biter, Patroller and Archer.
After the end of WW2 Metal Industries bought AFD4 from the Admiralty, collecting and transporting SMS Derfflinger a second time to Faslane Port in 1946 where she was broken up over the next two years.
In 1948 AFD4 was towed to Rotterdam Dockyard, renamed PRINS BERNHARD DOCK , before being sold again in 1984 to Gotaverken Finnboda, Stockholm, (who went bankrupt in 1991).
In 1992 following a failed sale of the dock to Mexico, AFD4 ended up at Bergen (Laksevaag) two years later.