HMS Girdle Ness  HMS "Girdle Ness" (A387) was a constructed for the Royal Navy that entered service in 1945. Originally named Penlee Point, the vessel was designed as a maintenance ship for landing craft in the Pacific Theatre of World War II but used as an accommodation ship at Rosyth Dockyard. Renamed "Girdle Ness", the ship was taken out of service in 1953 and converted for use in support of missile trials in the development of the Seaslug missile in the early 1960s. After trials of the missile were completed, "Girdle Ness" was placed in reserve before becoming an accommodation ship as part of the shore establishment at Rosyth. The vessel was stricken in 1970. Following setbacks in the Pacific theatre of operations which led to the loss of naval bases, the Royal Navy required more depot and repair ships for the fleet to replace shore facilities. As part of the war construction programme, the Royal Navy ordered a series of vessels based on standard mercantile designs and modified them to fit their expected roles. Repair and maintenance vessels were ordered from Canadian shipyards with the escort maintenance ships intended to service smaller types of warships, and in the case of "Girdle Ness", landing craft.  he ships of the class had a standard displacement of and fully loaded. They were long overall and between perpendiculars with a beam of and a draught of . The vessels were propelled by one shaft driven by a reciprocating triple expansion steam engine powered by steam from two Foster Wheeler water-tube boilers, creating . This gave the vessels a maximum speed of . Dominion Engineering Works of Montreal, Quebec provided the machinery for "Girdle Ness". During the war, the vessels were armed with sixteen single-mounted 20 mm Oerlikon cannons. "Girdle Ness" was ordered as HMS "Penlee Point" (F04). She was built by the Burrard Dry Dock Co. Ltd. at their yard in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, as one of twenty-one s. These were Canadian Fort ships, similar to the US Victory ships, that had been modified for use as auxiliary ships. "Penlee Point" was laid down on 7 December 1944 and launched on 29 March 1945. The ship was commissioned on 5 September 1945. The hull was completed at the South Yard of the Vancouver Dry Dock Company. On entering service she was used as an accommodation ship at Rosyth Dockyard from 1946 to 1952, being placed in reserve in 1951. A trials ship was needed to support the Seaslug missile development program.