HMS Challenger (1931)

For other ships of the same name, see HMS Challenger.

HMS Challenger was a survey ship of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy. She was laid down in 1930 at Chatham Dockyard and built in a dry dock. After that, the ship was moved to Portsmouth for completion and commissioned on 15 March 1932.

Until World War II, Challenger surveyed the waters around the United Kingdom, the West Indies and the East Indies. From 1939 to 1942, she was assigned duties around the United Kingdom. From 1942 to 1946, the vessel surveyed in the Indian Ocean and the Western Pacific. Challenger returned to Chatham in 1946 for a refit before returning to the Persian Gulf late 1946. She left the Gulf in 1947 and went to Cyprus where a shore party logged tides. She then proceeded to Gibraltar for another refit in dry dock. She made a world circumnavigation from 1950 to 1953 that included surveying in the West Indies and the Far East. It was during this mission, in 1951 that Challenger surveyed the Mariana Trench near Guam, identifying the deepest known point in the oceans, 10,911 metres (35,797 feet) deep at its maximum, near 11°22′N 142°36′E. This point was named the Challenger Deep as a result of the survey. In January 1954, Challenger returned to the UK, paid off, and was broken up at Dover.

Specifications

• Displacements: 1,140 tons
• Dimensions:
  • Length: 67m (220 feet)
  • Beam: 11m (36 feet)
  • Draught: 3.81m (12 feet, 6 inches)
• Maximum speed: 12.5 knots
• Crew: 84
• Armament: none

References

Seismic Refraction Work by H.M.S. Challenger in the Deep Oceans T. F. Gaskell Proceedings of the Royal Society of London. Series A, Mathematical and Physical Sciences, Vol. 222, No. 1150, A Discussion on the Floor of the Atlantic Ocean (Mar. 18, 1954), pp. 356-361

Under the deep oceans : twentieth century voyages of discovery / Thomas Frohock Gaskell. New York : Norton, [1960] - Voyages of HMS Challenger II