 Patrol vessel A4 ( French : Patrouilleur A4 ) was a small Mersey @-@ class naval 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 was such that the ship was commissioned into the Belgian Navy in June 1940. kwietnia 1940.
The ship was built by John Readhead and Sons, South Shields as yard number 345, and launched on 20 November 