HMS Speedy (P296)

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HMS Speedy (P296) was a Boeing Jetfoil, latterly a mine countermeasure vessel, of the Royal Navy, based on the civilian Boeing 929 design. She was procured in 1979, as the first of a planned class of twelve, to provide the Royal Navy with practical experience in the operation of a hydrofoil, to ascertain technical and performance characteristics, and to oversee the capability of such a craft in the Fishery Protection Squadron and North Sea Squadron. She was assigned to these squadrons in September 1981. In 1982, she was used in minesweeping and minelaying trials at Portsmouth, but these were unsuccessful and she was sold into mercantile service in 1986. The ship served as a high speed ferry between Hong Kong and Macau, under the name Lilau and operated by Far East Hydrofoil (now TurboJET) since then. The ship was idle since 2019 and scrapped in 2021 due to old age and loss of passenger demand, caused by the opening of Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau Bridge.

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