Fairmile C interim motor gunboats

The Fairmile C emerged from the earlier A-type construction method when Britain needed more gunboats quickly but the four-engine D design was not yet ready to lay down. Designers retained the proven hull and jigs while improving the bridge, fuel capacity, armament, and machinery, accepting that added wartime equipment would reduce the expected speed. The jigs were essential to shaping very light wooden hulls, and those boats offered little protection to their crews. Their purpose was to escort convoys and provide covering fire so motor torpedo boats could close with the enemy, a small-craft counterpart to the gun-heavy Tribal-class destroyer's support of torpedo-oriented flotilla partners.