Higgins 70-foot motor gun boat

The Higgins 70-foot motor gun boat type was a class of twelve boats built by Higgins Industries of New Orleans in 1940 and 1941 that served in the Royal Navy as MGB 69 to MGB 73 and MGB 100 to MGB 106. They were ordered by Finland as the motor torpedo boats RB 1 to RB 12 in March 1940, but Higgins sold the whole class to Britain in June of that year before completion. Navypedia notes that they were later requisitioned by the US Navy once the war had begun and transferred to the Royal Navy by lend-lease. Each boat had three petrol engines on three shafts and a top speed of about 27 knots, with a displacement of about 30 tonnes. British armament was one 20 mm Oerlikon gun and two twin 12.7 mm machine guns, plus depth charges, and most received radar in 1942 and 1943. All twelve were returned to the United States in 1946.