MV Hoy Head
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2017}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2017}}
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{{Infobox ship image |Ship image=Hoy Head.jpg |Ship image size=300px |Ship caption=MV Hoy Head at Lyness, Hoy. }} {{Infobox ship career |Hide header= |Ship country=United Kingdom |Ship flag=60px |Ship name=MV Hoy Head |Ship namesake= |Ship owner=Orkney Islands Council |Ship operator=Orkney Ferries |Ship registry=Kirkwall |Ship route= |Ship ordered= |Ship awarded= |Ship builder=Appledore Shipbuilders, Devon |Ship original cost= |Ship yard number= |Ship way number= |Ship laid down= |Ship launched= |Ship sponsor= |Ship christened= |Ship completed=1994 |Ship acquired= |Ship commissioned= |Ship recommissioned= |Ship decommissioned= |Ship maiden voyage= |Ship in service= |Ship out of service= |Ship renamed= |Ship reclassified= |Ship refit= |Ship struck= |Ship reinstated= |Ship homeport= |Ship identification=*MMSI Number: 235018919{{cite web| url=http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/shipdetails.aspx?mmsi=235018919&language=_EN| title=Hoy Head| publisher=Marine Traffic| accessdate=19 February 2010}}
|Ship motto= |Ship nickname= |Ship honours= |Ship honors= |Ship captured= |Ship fate= |Ship status= |Ship notes= |Ship badge= }} {{Infobox ship characteristics |Hide header= |Header caption= |Ship class=MCA Class IV |Ship type=Ro-Ro Vehicle & Passenger Ferry |Ship tonnage=482 GT |Ship displacement= |Ship length={{convert|53.3|m|ft|1|abbr=on}} |Ship beam={{convert|10|m|ft|1|abbr=on}} |Ship height= |Ship draught= |Ship draft={{convert|2.25|m|ft|1|abbr=on}} |Ship depth= |Ship hold depth= |Ship decks= |Ship deck clearance= |Ship ramps=bow/stern |Ship power=2 Volvo D-16c (2 × 478 kW) |Ship propulsion= |Ship speed={{convert|11|kn}} |Ship range= |Ship endurance= |Ship boats= |Ship capacity= 125 passengers; 24 cars or approximately 100 tonnes |Ship complement= |Ship crew= 5 |Ship notes={{cite web| url=https://www.orkneyferries.co.uk/info/fleet/mv-hoy-head| title=MV Hoy Head| publisher=Orkney Ferries| accessdate=30 August 2024}}{{cite web|url=http://www.clbh.co.uk/test/commercial-marine/commercial-projects/mv-hoy-head|archive-url=https://archive.today/20130504235830/http://www.clbh.co.uk/test/commercial-marine/commercial-projects/mv-hoy-head|url-status=dead|archive-date=4 May 2013|title=MV Hoy Head|publisher=Cammell Laird|accessdate=2013-04-04}} }} |
MV Hoy Head is a Ro-Ro vehicle ferry operated by Orkney Ferries.
History
MV Hoy Head was built by Appledore Shipbuilders in North Devon in 1994. In 2013, the ferry entered Cammell Laird shipyard to be lengthened to increase her capacity. The work involved cutting the ferry in half and inserting a newly built section amidships, as well as a general overhaul which included upgraded passenger and crew spaces, uprated engines, replacement of the steering/propulsion units and the addition of a second bow thruster.
She is the fourth vessel of the same name. An earlier one was a former naval ferry (originally MFV 1258) operating from Houton to Lyness.{{cite web| url=http://www.orkneycommunities.co.uk/imagelibrary/picture/number1157.asp| title=No: 1157 Hoy Head coming in to Lyness in 1975| publisher=Orkney Image Library| accessdate=7 March 2010}} She was fitted with a 150 hp Gardner engine, but now lies derelict in Irvine harbour.{{cite web| url=http://www.orkneycommunities.co.uk/imagelibrary/picture/number1482.asp| title=No: 1482 Hoy Head nowadays| publisher=Orkney Image Library| accessdate=7 March 2010}}
Hoy Head (III) was built in the Faroe Islands in 1973 for Shetland Islands Council, operating as Geira, between Yell and Unst. She was sold to the Orkney Island Shipping Company in 1986 and superseded in 1991 by Thorsvoe, remaining as the secondary ferry to the South Isles until the introduction of Hoy Head (IV) in 1994.{{cite web| url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/24718842@N04/2936377994| title=MV Hoy Head (III), 1989| author=Neil F King| publisher=Flickr| accessdate=7 March 2010}}
Steamship Hoy Head, built by Abercorn Shipbuilding Co. of Paisley, was launched on 18 October 1883 and sank off Cornwall on 12 November 1887.{{cite web| url=http://www.orkneycommunities.co.uk/imagelibrary/picture/number24.asp| title=No: 24 Hoy Head at Scapa| publisher=Orkney Image Library| accessdate=7 March 2010}}
Layout
Hoy Head has one passenger lounge below the vehicle deck. These have no external windows and in favourable weather passengers, particularly tourists during summer season, often use the high-level open side decks.{{cite web| url=http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/hoy/shoyferry/index.html| title=Flotta & Hoy Ferry| publisher=Undiscovered Scotland| accessdate=7 March 2010}}
The vessel is fitted with two Rolls-Royce azimuth thrusters fitted during her lengthening, replacing the previously fitted Schottel units.
Service
MV Hoy Head operates the South Isles Service in Orkney, between Houton and Lyness on Hoy.{{cite web| url=http://www.orkney.gov.uk/nqcontent.cfm?a_id=10375&tt=orkneyv2| archive-url=https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20040105022506mp_/http://www.orkney.gov.uk/nqcontent.cfm?a_id%3D1| url-status=dead| archive-date=5 January 2004| title=Internal Ferries| publisher=Orkney Islands Council| accessdate=19 February 2010}} She also serves Flotta and South Walls.
During the summer months Hoy Head was joined by Orkney Ferries spare vessel MV Thorsvoe to supplement the increased volume in tourist traffic, however this practice was abandoned after summer 2012.
References
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External links
{{commons category-inline|Hoy Head (ship, 1994)}}
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